The Malta Environment and Planning Authority's audit officer, architect Joe Falzon, has confirmed he had threatened to resign last April after the authority's board tried to terminate the employment of his investigating officer.

Mr Falzon told The Times the Mepa board had at first refused to renew Carmel Cacopardo's contract early last year on the grounds that he was "impossible to work with".

Mr Falzon said: "I personally appointed Mr Cacopardo and he always gave me excellent work. If I agreed not to renew his contract it would have been as though I would have been admitting otherwise".

Moreover, he said, accepting the board's "imposed' decision would have undermined the independence of the office. Mr Cacopardo said, when asked, that he had initiated an investigation into the chairman as part of his duties at Mepa's audit office. The investigation was part of the Ta' Qali tent case. In Mepa's annual report the auditor criticised the chairman for meeting with the developer of the tent structure together with the case officer. Such meetings, the auditor said in the report, transmits conflicting messages to both the developers and the staff and raise issues of accountability.

The audit officer won the day and Mr Cacopardo's contract was subsequently renewed.

The incident of Mr Falzon's threatening to resign was revealed in a letter to The Times on New Year's Eve by former Nationalist Party general secretary Victor Ragonesi. Mepa chairman Andrew Calleja publicly criticised the audit office last November. He said the auditor occasionally arrived at conclusions on the basis of interpretation and without reference to legal advice, adding that this had "undermined the board's confidence in the audit office".

Mr Falzon's contract is up for renewal in March.

Mr Cacopardo too confirmed the contents of Dr Ragonesi's letter, but declined to comment further as he linked the matter to a complaint he had lodged with the Ombudsman involving Mepa.

When contacted on the issue raised by Dr Ragonesi, Mepa at first redirected the matter to the Environment Ministry, saying the latter had appointed the audit officer. When it was pointed out to the authority that the law lays down that the audit officer is appointed by the "authority with the concurrence of the minister", it said:

"The audit officer had requested support staff and the duration of the investigating officer's term is directly related to that of the audit officer. The appointment of the investigating officer was made at the specific request of the audit officer and their term of office thus expires concurrently".

Mepa declined to respond when asked who was behind the initial decision not to renew Mr Cacopardo's contract.

The ministry said: "The audit officer chooses his own team, so the investigating officer is directly appointed by him. Such appointment would then require the approval, or otherwise, of the Mepa board".