Wasteserv’s former chairman says he was not given the chance to react to damning findings outlined in an audit report published on Thursday by Environment Minister Leo Brincat.

“We (the board members) have nothing against the minister carrying out an audit report at the start of the legislature but we would have expected to be consulted,” Ben Farrugia told Times of Malta.

“The report does not do justice to the work carried out. We were definitely not perfect but we must see what was achieved,” the former head of the Government’s waste management agency added.

The report found that bonuses were paid over “loose and highly subjective targets” and that roles were created to meet personal needs rather than organisational requirements.

“I don’t think it is fair to judge Wasteserv simply on administrative deficiencies,” Mr Farrugia said. The company had “challenges on a national level” that were bigger than the administrative issues, he said, pointing out that Wasteserv had to build infrastructure, promote the concept of waste separation and start generating energy from landfills.

“When we started in 2008, everyone was answerable to the CEO. We introduced middle management,” he added.

Moreover, as a State-owned company, it was constantly under pressure in terms of financial and human resources.

Mr Farrugia pointed out that €250,000 was paid over six years to more than 10 managers, which, when divided, did not add up to much.

“I don’t know whether the auditors asked for a copy of the appraisal forms, for instance, which is how top management was assessed,” he said. “It is not fair to say the targets were loose and subjective. The truth is, if you have fixed targets, such as having a facility operational by a certain time, you depend on contractors and the planning authority. This is not as specific as a production floor,” he said.

“This does not mean things cannot be improved but it depends on your resources.”

Mr Farrugia said the board had to deal with two major issues: the company’s deficit and the fact that its portfolio grew faster than its resource complement.

“We needed to restructure, but this is not as easily done as in the private sector because there are so many stages involved when it comes to government. Things take time.” Asked about the fact that JF Security employed about 300 people on the company’s behalf, Mr Farrugia said the Government had a clear direction not to overload the civil service in case the sector was privatised.

“There were so many unknowns. We did not know what demand there would be in this innovative sector. I think the Government was right to do this,” he said.

Former Resources Minister George Pullicino said he never micromanaged Wasteserv as Mr Brincat seemed to be doing. Instead, he relied on the chairman, the board and the CEO, whom he used to meet fortnightly.

“We spent the last five years building the infrastructure from zero,” he said.

Mr Pullicino agreed the company doing the audit should have spoken to the former chairman and the board of directors.

“How can you judge people without telling them what they are accused of and giving them a chance to defend themselves?”

“Of course, there were problems, like there are in all companies. But there were also issues of resources and the Finance Ministry did not only have us to deal with. You should not rubbish the good we managed to do.”

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