Inquiry board chairman, member, resign after criticism

The government-appointed members of the board of inquiry into the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools have resigned as a consequence of criticism made in parliament by the opposition, Education Minister Louis Galea said yesterday.

Speaking in parliament yesterday, Dr Galea said board chairman Joseph C. Schembri and member Catherine Galea handed in their letter of resignation on Thursday, a day after remarks in the house by Labour MP Evarist Bartolo, who had said the inquiry was a farce.

Mr Schembri and architect Galea said in their letter that in view of the "unfounded" allegations made against the board and against their personal integrity, when the board had still to start working, they felt that a climate had been created which did not allow them to do their duties serenely and as demanded by law.

The board had been appointed just 14 days previously by Dr Galea to investigate whether the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools had violated government financial regulations in the way it awarded contracts. The inquiry had been demanded by the opposition. The other member of the inquiry board was architect Martin De Bono, who was nominated by the opposition.

Dr Galea announced the resignation of Mr Schembri and Ms Galea in a ministerial statement in which he accused the opposition of having torpedoed the inquiry.

He said that in the light of what had happened, he was now leaving it to the audit machinery of the government and the house to establish if any financial regulations had been violated by the foundation.

He said that Mr Bartolo when speaking in parliament on Wednesday had said the inquiry was not serious and the opposition nominee had not been given access to documents and work sites he had requested.

This criticism was unfounded and out of place. The least the opposition could have done was to allow the board to get down to work and not attack it in such an irresponsible way.

Dr Galea said Mr Bartolo's remarks were far from the truth. The board had available to it all the documents and information it had requested and no information was refused. Indeed, at the first meeting of the board Mr De Bono, who was a Labour Party election candidate, had submitted a long list of information he wanted and this was, practically in its entirety, accepted and the information was being collected by the foundation.

The allegation made that the foundation's files had been tampered with was also unfounded. What had happened was that the foundation's staff was taking the information which the board had requested.

Dr Galea said Mr De Bono had also demanded that he alone be given access to the information he had requested, and that he should be able carry out site inspections on his own. He also requested the presence of the media at the proceedings of the board.

The board decided that it should work as a whole and there would be no communication with the press until a report was produced.

Opposition leader Alfred Sant and Mr Bartolo asked what action was taken as soon as the inquiry was announced so that the necessary documents could be impounded.

They asked the minister to explain why he had selected Mr Schembri and Ms Galea to serve on the board, observing that Mr Schembri was employed by a company which was awarded government contracts. Ms Galea had also worked for the government.

How had it resulted that Mr De Bono was to be given all the documents he requested, when Mr Schembri had with regard to several requests said they were outside the inquiry's terms of reference?

Why had the board decided to leave the media out when the inquiry into whether human remains had been dumped at Maghtab had been covered by the press?

They also asked why the inquiry had met at the Ministry of Education and not a neutral site and whether it had resulted that contractors were allocated work verbally .

Dr Sant also asked whether the board was still constituted. He felt that once Mr De Bono had not resigned, the board was still constituted.

Questions were also asked by Nationalist MPs Michael Bonnici and Mario Galea.

Replying, Dr Galea said the government had wanted the inquiry to be able to work seriously to ensure that public funds were used in a manner which was accountable, gave value for money, and that no regulations were violated.

He had initially wanted to appoint a member of the judiciary to head the inquiry, but the justice minister was against the idea because of the other commitments which the members of the judiciary had. Several other persons were approached before Mr Schembri and Ms Galea accepted to serve on the board, Dr Galea said. They were appointed on the basis of their known integrity, honesty, fairness and professionalism. Dr Galea denied a comment by Mr Bartolo that Ms Galea had been a PN candidate.

He said that people who served on boards on inquiry such as this, appointed in terms of the Inquiries Act, took an oath of office to carry out their duties objectively and impartially.

Dr Galea said Mr De Bono had submitted a list of considerable length to the board on the documents and information he wanted to have access to and this was accepted practically in its entirety where it was within the terms of reference of the board. Indeed, Mr De Bono had also wanted to look into the future activities of the foundation, which was not part of the role of the board.

The board had been setting a timetable of the site visits it planned to hold in connection with its investigations.

When officials started collecting the information that was requested, somebody phoned Mr De Bono claiming files were being moved. Mr Schembri immediately went to the foundation's office and personally watched the information being collected. He also took possession of the keys of the filing cabinet.

On a point of order, Mr Bartolo said it had taken Mr De Bono hours to contact the chairman about this point.

Continuing, Dr Galea said the actions the chairman took, on his own initiative, were aimed exactly against the sort of suspicion that had been raised.

Dr Galea said it was up to the board to decide where it held its meetings.

As for the presence of the press, the Maghtab inquiry was different from this one, which would have included examination of tender documents including costings and other commercial matters which could not easily be made public. The procedure was for the board to conduct its investigations and then submit a report which would be published. If there was disagreement in the board, a minority report could also be issued.

Had Mr De Bono been patient, he would have been able to have access to the documents he requested and, with the other members of the board, inspect the sites he wished to see, assisted by other experts as required.

Dr Galea said that once the chairman and a member of the board had resigned, the board was no longer legally constituted.

Unfortunately, the opposition had sought to judge the inquiry even before it got down to work, showing that its first interest was to score political points.

Dr Galea said the work of the Foundation for Tomorrow's School was very important for the future of state schools. This was a project which could not be torpedoed as it would be schoolchildren who would suffer.

He would continue to insist that all work was done according to the law and regulations and he would protect no one who abused. However he had full confidence in the integrity and honesty of the members of the foundation board and would urge them not to be discouraged or deviated from their work in the interests of state schools.