David Thake’s Company Committed Crime Of Misappropriating Funds, PL MP Glenn Bedingfield Claims
Labour Whip Glenn Bedingfield has suggested that the police should charge PN MP David Thake’s company with misappropriating funds in light of its overdue VAT payments.
“In recent years, David Thake’s company – and I hope it succeeds like all companies – made around €1.5 million in sales and collected around €250,000 in VAT. That money belongs to the people and are at him illegally, which is a crime,” Bedingfield said on ONE TV’s Paperscan this morning.
“Collecting money and keeping it when it wasn’t his to keep is a crime as per Chapter 9, Article 293,” he said, referring to the law against the misappropriation of funds.
“The police made a mistake when charging them but the Criminal Code is clear in that keeping money which doesn’t belong to you qualifies as misappropriating funds. There is at least a basis for an investigation into whether a crime took place.”
“Let’s see if [Standards Commissioner] George Hyzler reports it to the police. He’s duty-bound by law to pass on alleged crimes [he encountered during the course of his investigations] to the police, not the standards committee.”
Earlier this week, Times of Malta reported that Thake’s telecommunications company Vanilla Telecoms owes the tax authorities around €270,000 in VAT.
Thake vehemently denied that Vanilla had tried to evade tax, arguing that the VAT returns were filed on time and that his company’s own accounts department had actually taken the initiative after realising the VAT department’s website wasn’t showing updated figure for the company since 2016.
He said a voluntary repayment programme is being finalised and that the amount immediately due stands at €174,790, due to a government tax deferral scheme to help businesses cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The PN MP also asked Hyzler to investigate the case to ensure his company’s actions don’t compromise his position as an MP.
What do you make of Bedingfield’s intervention?
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