Criminally charged mayors increase votes

Two mayors facing criminal charges of misappropriation of public funds, money laundering, and usury have increased their popularity in their respective local councils, going against the overall trend in the local council elections.

Labour stalwart Sandro Craus will serve another five years as Labour’s Mayor of Rabat, as he increased his personal vote tally by around 200 votes in last Saturday’s elections, reaching 1,900 votes.

Craus, who, until a few years ago, was the right-hand man of disgraced former Chief of Staff Keith Schembri, is being charged with illegally helping Melvin Theuma, the fixer of Caruana Galizia’s assassination, get a phantom government job.

Despite the charges he is facing, the Labour Party still supported his candidacy.

This is a departure from the actions previously taken by Prime Minister Robert Abela towards other Labour politicians caught in a similar position to Craus’s, such as former Labour MPs Silvio Grixti, Konrad Mizzi and Rosianne Cutajar.

As soon as Abela was elected to power, Craus was made to resign as Head of Customer Care at Castille. However, upon the prime minister’s instructions, he was employed as a Business Development Manager at Projects Plus, an agency within the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM).

Craus was awarded a lucrative €65,000 a year contract by CEO James Camenzuli, who is also facing criminal charges. His colleagues describe his job as “another phantom job,” given that Craus is rarely at his desk.

Similarly, David Apap, the Mayor of Gharb in Gozo, also did well.

Despite ongoing criminal charges of usury and money laundering, Apap enjoyed a comfortable lead in the local council election, retaining the mayorship with an even bigger vote tally. Apap denies the charges, but the proceedings are still underway in the Gozo Courts.

Compared to 2019, Apap increased his votes by approximately 200 in a village with fewer than 2000 registered voters. Last Saturday, 555 voters voted for him on his ticket, L-Gharb l-Ewwel.

Until he was arraigned in court in 2013, Apap was a PN Mayor, but after that, he contested the local council elections as an independent candidate.

Apap is currently embroiled in another controversy. Against the wishes of his locality’s football club and without explanation, he leased their ground to another rival football team.