Investments Ministry replies to opposition comments

The Ministry of Investment, Industry and Information Technology said yesterday it was clear there was "rampant confusion" in the minds of the opposition spokesmen about the forensic laboratory and the Malta National Laboratory Ltd (MNL).

The ministry was reacting to comments made on Thursday by Anglu Farrugia and Gavin Gulia, Labour Party spokesmen for home affairs and justice respectively.

The MLP spokesmen had called on the government to appoint an independent board to conduct an inquiry into the way the forensic lab within the MNL had been administered over the past three years.

The Labour MPs had lambasted the authorities for failing to repair equipment that was used in gunshot residue analysis and claiming the analysts had to pay out of their own pockets for stationery and chemicals and often footed the bill for equipment repair.

The lab had been closed by the Occupational Health and Safety Authority in view of the serious risk to health.

Dr Gulia had argued there was nothing to show for the Lm1.2 million that were invested in the laboratory.

The ministry said the forensic lab and the MNL were two separate and distinct entities. The MNL had nothing whatsoever to do with the current controversy, the ministry insisted.

The MNL, it added, had been set up by the government as a commercial firm with a completely commercial function.

Contrary to the impression given by the MLP spokesmen, the laboratory at the Evans Laboratory, in Valletta that was closed by the OHSA was not the MNL and neither was it under the control of the MNL. The MNL offices were in San Gwann and not in Valletta, the ministry noted.

The Lm1.2 million mentioned by Dr Gulia had not been earmarked for the forensic laboratory, the ministry said. Just over Lm2 million from the Third Financial Protocol were spent by the MNL on the purchase of equipment.

The ministry said the three forensic lab analysts were not employed by the MNL. In fact, it went on, when they had the opportunity to decide whether to work for the MNL they explicitly refused to do so.