MTA chairman defends report on development of disco at Mistra

Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) chairman Sam Mifsud yesterday defended the report penned by the authority's former acting CEO who is facing charges over the Mistra development controversy.

Mr Mifsud said the authority believed that the north side of the island needed an area of entertainment to boost tourism.

He clarified that his position was based on the authority's policies to spread places of entertainment - currently focused in the St Julians/Paceville area - to the north and to develop the coast.

These policies were strictly based on tourism priorities and did not go into environmental or heritage considerations of any development, he said.

Mr Mifsud was testifying before Magistrate Lawrence Quintano, in the compilation of evidence against MTA former acting CEO George Micallef, 48, of St Julians, who is pleading not guilty to making a false declaration on and before last October.

The case revolves around a report written by Mr Micallef, who also acted as a consultant to the MTA.

In the report, Mr Micallef made a case for the proposed development of a discotheque in Mistra.

Testifying in a previous court sitting, Police Inspector Ian Abdilla said Mr Micallef told the police he had been asked by Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando to write a favourable report about the proposed discotheque, which was to be developed on land owned by the MP.

Mr Micallef added that, irrespective of this, he would still have recommended the project from a purely touristic point of view.

On taking the witness stand yesterday, Mr Mifsud said he first saw the report when investigating police brought it to his attention.

He added that it was not unusual for the MTA to draw up reports about where establishments were needed adding that the Malta Environment and Planning Authority requested such reports on a regular basis.

During cross-examination, Mr Mifsud was shown a copy of a The Times article, dated March 30, where he was quoted as saying that he defended the document and stood by its contents "to this day" in the sense that the (north) needed places of entertainment to boost tourism.

Mr Mifsud reconfirmed this position and stressed that this was based on MTA policies: to increase places of entertainment in the north and to develop the coast.

In fact, the authority had submitted an application for the rehabilitation of Mistra Bay, he said.

He stressed that his stand (regarding the document) was based solely on a tourism point of view and that the authority did not go into environmental or heritage matters.

The case continues.

Police Inspectors Angelo Gafà and Ian Abdilla prosecuted.

Lawyers Joseph Giglio and Stephen Tonna Lowell appeared for Mr Micallef.