Wasteserv employees want Whistleblower Act

Wasteserv employees are waiting for a Whistleblower Act to expose corruption at the waste management firm, Labour environment spokesman Leo Brincat has claimed.

Mr Brincat told The Times that workers have alleged malpractice, from tendering and procurement to management structures. He noted that the Auditor General had already remarked on irregularities in his 2011 audit report.

Speaking at a press conference, Mr Brincat also touched on investigations into Enemalta’s oil procurement methods, saying an investigation he had asked the Auditor General to conduct back in 2011 was now in its final stages.

He said he had been prompted to call for the investigation by allegations that Enemalta was overly dependent on “one or more” companies procuring its oil.

Mr Brincat also categorically denied reports that he had, as Finance Minister in the Sant Administration, anything to do with the man at the centre of recent oil corruption allegations, former Enemalta director Frank Sammut.

He said Mr Sammut had been appointed some 10 years earlier, by then-energy Parliamentary Secretary Ninu Zammit. “When I became minister, I appointed Paul Vella to chair the Mediterranean Oil Bunkering Company to look into rumours about irregularities in oil bunkering,” he said.

The claims came during a press conference in which Mr Brincat and fellow PL candidate Manuel Mallia attacked the PN’s track record in guarding against corruption.

Dr Mallia asked why the PN had failed to enact a party financing law since it was first mooted in 1996 and noted that the party had promised a Whistleblower Act five years ago.

“What’s holding them back? Why has it taken so long?” he asked, adding that the PN had not put Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s vow to make political corruption legislation retroactive in writing.