Francine Farrugia Released On Bail

Former PN Siġġiewi councillor Francine Farrugia has been released on bail after she was charged earlier this month with embezzling millions of euro from MCAST, where she worked as a payroll officer.

Magistrate Rachel Montebello approved the defence’s request to release her on bail subject to a number of conditions. She must sign a bail book at the Qormi police station every day, must deposit €50,000 and provide a personal guarantee of €25,000.

Farrugia was back in court today, where inspector Wayne Borg said she used to create double salary payments, using real employees, with the second payment going into her own bank account.

She allegedly embezzled around €2.4 million, with €1.9 million going to her Revolut account and €422,000 to local bank accounts.

A €122,970 payment to Farrugia’s Revolut account was blocked by MCAST after police informed them of the investigation.

As reported by Times of Malta, MCAST’s financial controller Marita Brincat testified that the institution’s system allows salaries to be split between two accounts, a process that is managed by the HR Department where Farrugia works.

She said that every month she compares payroll files of employees to their bank files to ensure they both match.

MCAST staff can earn more money by working extra hours, and this is verified by HR, who uploads them into the payroll system every month.

When conducting audits, she was given an excel file that was usually prepared by Farrugia. Once approved, Farrugia would issue a banking file.