Auditor General to investigate hospital security contract

The Auditor General will be investigating claims that financial procedures were not followed in the direct order issued for the procurement of security services at Mater Dei Hospital.

The Labour Party had called for an investigation following a media report claiming that Group 4 Securitas were given a contract of nearly €2 million by direct tender two months before last March's general election.

In a statement issued yesterday, the MLP said it had received a letter from Auditor General Anthony Mifsud saying that he intended to launch an investigation.

Opposition leader Charles Mangion and Labour MPs Helena Dalli and Chris Agius, who all form part of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, had asked the Auditor general to see whether the direct orders were justified and whether normal procedures were followed.

The Labour officials asked the Auditor General to carry out his investigation in the shortest time possible for his report to be debated in the PAC and eventually tabled in Parliament.