PAC agrees on Voice of the Med. inquiry

The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee yesterday accepted a request by Labour MP Leo Brincat to ask the National Audit Office to hold an inquiry into the operations of the Voice of the Mediterranean and a report about it drawn up by Foreign Ministry officials.

Mr Brincat said in a letter to the chairman of the committee, Charles Mangion, that the report was flawed as it was drawn up by officials who had an interest to reach a positive conclusion about the radio station.

Minister Austin Gatt said that he had no objection to the NAO investigation although the government did not agree with the contents of Mr Brincat's letter.

The Auditor-General, Joseph Galea, asked for clear terms of reference. Dr Gatt said that this was the first time that an entity in which the government only had a 50 per cent share was being investigated. He said NAO must only investigate whether procedures on the use of public funds were followed.