San Gwann council Tunisia trip "loss"

San Gwann council paid Lm4,000 as a deposit on a trip it was organising to Tunisia, which it was set to lose after the trip never materialised, the Labour Party said yesterday.

The Labour councillors for the locality were quoted in a statement as saying that the trip has been envisaged as a thank you to the local orchestra which provided its services free of charge during the year. The trip was to be offered at a subsidised price to the 21 orchestra members, and to other San Gwann residents.

However, only seven people actually booked as the price was considered to be too high, especially for September. The mayor, Helen Fenech, cancelled the trip and, rather than lose the deposit, arranged with the company that ran the hotel in Tunisia to use the money locally on its hotels and catering services.

"This means that the company effectively got Lm4,000 without a tender," they complained.