Labour MP asks for further WasteServ investigations

Labour MP Owen Bonnici has asked House Public Accounts Committee chairman Charles Mangion to request the Auditor General to make further investigations into the tender issued by WasteServ Malta Ltd regarding the Sant' Antnin waste plant in Marsascala.

Last week, the National Audit Office concluded that WasteServ had overpaid the tenderer, SLR Consulting Ltd, and failed to pay VAT on the contract. The initial investigation was requested after Dr Bonnici had highlighted a number of alleged irregularities concerning five baseline studies that allegedly had not been carried out by SLR, even though these had formed part of the terms of reference.

In his letter yesterday, Dr Bonnici said that the NAO had not carried out an important study stipulated in the terms of reference on the basis of which an environmental impact assessment on the current levels of odours and dust had to be carried out. This was asserted by MEPA Assistant Director Vincent Gauci in front of the Development Appeals Board.

Dr Bonnici also asked that the report laid on the Table of the House last week be discussed by the PAC so that the committee could take the steps it deemed necessary.