Police asked to proceed against firm

Labour MP Leo Brincat has asked the police to start criminal action against a waste oils recycling plant in Marsa after it illegally dumped oil-contaminated water in the sewage system.

The company, Waste Oils, is a subsidiary of the Falzon Group and is situated near Hexagon House where noxious fumes occasionally fill the air.

In 2009, while investigating possible sources of bad smells in the area, planning authority environment inspectors had found that the company was illegally discharging oil-contaminated water into the sewage system.

Last year in Parliament, the Prime Minister said the Malta Environment and Planning Authority had asked the Water Services Corporation to start legal action against the company.

However, parliamentary replies given last month indicated that no legal action was taken against Waste Oils, although inspections carried out after the reported incident showed the company had rectified its actions.

Mr Brincat said he was constrained to refer the matter to the police because the authorities had procrastinated for more than two years and the case risked being time barred.

In a letter to the Police Commissioner, signed by Mr Brincat’s lawyer Owen Bonnici, the Labour spokesman said the dumping of waste oil in the drainage system went against the provisions of a 1993 legal notice. He asked the police to take criminal action against the company or the people responsible for the illegal act.

When The Times reported the matter last year, a company spokesman had denied the company was ever caught by Mepa ­­­discharging oil-contaminated waste into the sewers.

The spokesman claimed that the only incident occurred when during an inspection by Water Services Corporation it was discovered that the company had an irregular connection to the main sewage system and this was immediately closed.