MTA and Spin Valley shared same consultant

The consultant that produced the "very favourable" report for the Spin Valley project in Mistra on behalf of the developers is the same man who penned the equally-favourable Malta Tourism Authority strategic plan for the area and which was said to have had a bearing on the approval of the project's outline permit.

The consultant, George Micallef, resigned his position at the MTA on Monday, insisting yesterday his resignation was not an admission of guilt. "Unfortunately, that is how a resignation is taken in this country but I just felt it was the right thing to do in the circumstances," he said, adding he also felt he should resign out of courtesy given that a new Administration had been sworn in.

He would not comment on his role in the controversial project, pointing out that there were ongoing police investigations. He was recently called in for interviewing by the police.

The controversy over the Mistra development erupted after the Labour Party revealed, in the final days of the electoral campaign, that an outline development permit for a discotheque was issued on ecologically-sensitive land in Mistra, which land belongs to Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando. The outline development permit was issued despite very serious reservations by Mepa's planning directorate.

The highly-critical Mepa audit report on the case, issued on Monday, referred to the report produced by a company owned by Mr Micallef on behalf of the businessman behind the Spin Valley project. The auditor commented specifically on the curious fact that parts of this "very favourable" report had found their way, in certain cases, word for word, in another report making the case for the development, this time by the MTA - for whom Mr Micallef also acted as a consultant.

MTA chairman Sam Mifsud said, when asked, that Mr Micallef's conflict of interest, as the author of both documents, was the reason why the MTA had accepted his resignation and insisted that the authority itself had done nothing wrong in his view. In fact, he defended the document saying that he stood by its contents to this day in the sense that "St Paul's Bay needs a disco", adding that the authority had nothing to do with the environmental considerations of any development.

"Drawing up reports on where establishments are needed is everyday practice within the MTA. Mepa asks us on a regular basis about whether developments are in compliance with our tourism plan and we reply," he added, reiterating that this does not mean the authority would have also considered the environmental dimension, which is Mepa's responsibility.

The Mepa auditor criticised the MTA's report for its bias but insisted that the onus of the decision rested on the shoulders of the DCC members that approved the project.

In his damning verdict on the case, Mepa audit officer Joe Falzon said that with decisions such as this "accusations of corruption are inevitable and difficult to refute".