Minister refers corruption allegations for investigation

Competitiveness Minister Censu Galea said yesterday that he had written to the Commission for the Investigation of Corruption, asking it to investigate remarks by Labour MP Josè Herrera in Parliament on Monday and Labour MP Joe Mizzi some time before.

Mr Galea said that Dr Herrera had made some old and new allegations (about the Malta Maritime Authority) but when pressed by Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo, he had not been prepared to immediately repeat them outside the House.

(The allegations, reported yesterday, involved alleged corruption in the granting of boat owners' licences, ship registration and the tendering process.)

Mr Galea said parliamentary privilege should not be used in this way and MPs should have the courage of their convictions.

Labour MP Joe Mizzi, also under the protection of parliamentary privileges, had also made allegations against the authority and then not taken up the challenge to repeat them outside.

Mr Galea said MPs should have the decency to be prepared to repeat comments outside the House. He had therefore asked the commission to investigate the comments by both MPs.

Indeed it was not Mr Mizzi or Dr Herrera who had first revealed the case over the granting of licences but the authority's internal auditor who had noted discrepancies. The case had been referred to the police and the authority suspended two officials who were allegedly involved.

Mr Galea said he, as minister, could not comment since he would have then been accused of intervening in the investigations.

Dr Herrera, on Monday, had said that everybody had been speaking about this alleged corruption. Had that been the case, why didn't he inform the authorities earlier? However, contrary to what Mr Mizzi had said, very few people had failed the exams to operate boats.

On Dr Herrera's allegation that senior MMA officials were involved in tendering processes when they had a direct interest, Mr Galea said that seriousness now demanded that he would go before the commission to supply full details.

As for the claims of irregularities in the registration of vessels over 25 years old, Mr Galea said Dr Herrera would now also have an opportunity to fully explain his allegations.

The law had been amended to allow the possibility of registration of ships over 25 years old. Nothing had been done on the quiet, as was claimed, and ship registration remained of the highest standards, such that the Maltese merchant flag was now in the white list of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding. It was at the time of the Labour government that it was in the black list.

Malta only attained the white list after striking off several ships from its register but it had now gained respect and it appeared that a major breakthrough could soon be achieved with the registration of cruise ships under the Maltese flag.

Mr Galea said abuse of parliamentary privilege should no longer be tolerated and if necessary, such a privilege should be removed.

The minister also referred to the ongoing controversy over tapes of a private conversation recorded in 2002 and insisted that the MLP, rather than reproducing excepts, should carry them in full so as not to mislead.

Mr Mizzi denied there was abuse of parliamentary privilege and said such privilege was needed to protect people who were sure of their facts but could not prove them to the extent required in a court of law. In many cases, witnesses were scared of coming forward, fearing reprisals.

In the past he had made allegations about Mepa and driving instructors, and was later proved right.

Mr Mizzi recalled that during the debate on the Malta Maritime Authority in April he had spoken on abuses in that authority particularly lack of controls at the yacht marina and regarding bunkering and bribery for the allocation of berths.

He had also complained about the registration of various vessels over 25 years old and about the employment of unqualified ships' crews.

With regard to ship registration, some ship owners had been unable to have their vessels registered by the MMA, but then they succeeded after going through particular agents. The minister in reply to a parliamentary question had said it was not the practice to register ships that were over 25 years but the MMA considered registering such vessels when they formed part of a bigger fleet registered in Malta. Mr Mizzi said ships were either dangerous, or they were not and, clearly, something strange was happening.

Mr Mizzi said his comments had created uproar at the MMA. The internal auditor was asked to investigate and the truth of his comments started to be revealed.

Mr Mizzi said he had later made more allegations in an adjournment speech, warning that senior officials who were friends of the minister knew what was happening but had been kept in their place.

Mr Galea then, as now, also asked him to repeat his comments outside the House.

He could now say, Mr Mizzi said, that these officials not only knew, but were actually involved in the abuses. Among them was the case of direct allocations for CCTV cameras at the yacht marina.

In the boat licensing office in Msida, files had been destroyed by two persons in a bid to hide evidence. These persons had been abusing of their position and receiving bribes without anyone able to touch them because one was close to the minister. Clearly somebody had informed this person in advance of the investigation by the internal auditor. By the time investigators sealed the office, the files had been torn up. At the core of the issue, Mr Mizzi said, was how more licences had been issued than the number of candidates for the exams.

The minister had claimed in early June in Parliament that he knew nothing of these abuses, yet recently he told a newspaper that in May the MMA chairman informed him and the prime minister of what was happening and the police were called.

This clearly showed, therefore, that it was the minister who had been abusing of his position in Parliament. Indeed, the person responsible for this abuse had been at the minister's office on the day when Mr Galea denied all knowledge in Parliament, and on the day after.

Mr Mizzi said the country could not continue to be governed in this way. The law courts, the police, the ADT and the MMA had been bribed and Mepa had even come under criticism from the Archbishop.

In light of all this, parliamentary rules could not be used to defend or hide those who abused, when its purpose was to hold the government to account. Parliament could not be shorn of the duties and rights given to it by the democratic system. Hundreds of people had paid some Lm170 each to get a boating licence. Such things could not be kept hidden.

Intervening, Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo insisted that such comments should be repeated outside the House.

Mr Mizzi said he was speaking responsibly and he would be proved right.

Mr Vassallo asked if Mr Mizzi had a right to speak in this way under cover of House privilege. Mr Mizzi had said nothing about the law which the House was supposed to be discussing (the Financial Institutions Act).

Mr Mizzi said truth clearly hurt some people and he would only stop when he was satisfied that no one was being bribed.

Concluding, Mr Mizzi said Mr Galea had clearly lied in the House, having said in June that he did not know of the abuses at the MMA, when he actually knew on May 24. This was dangerous to democracy.