The House Environment Committee (chair: Marlene Pullicino MP) has been hearing evidence related to the events leading up to the production of a site selection report for the American University of Malta campus.
During the latest session the Mepa CEO Johann Buttigieg was fielding questions from the chair, from NGO representatives and from MPs and other politicians.
It was established that Mepa in the person of Johann Buttigieg, had been asked by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to identify sites in the south east of Malta with the specific characteristics of 50,000m2 of area, at least half of which must be government owned.
The brief – specific enough to warrant suspicion of a foregone conclusion – went further in that consultation outside the CEO’s office and specifically with Environment Division personnel was prohibited. Buttigieg has had a somewhat ‘turbulent’ career in Mepa.
In 2012, as an enforcement officer, he had been severely censured by the Mepa auditor who had called for action to be taken against him, saying of his report on the application for a wedding hall below Rabat: “This information is false and misleading… the case officer’s report constituted flagrant abuse with the intention of misleading the DCC and approving the permit… and they should shoulder their responsibilities for this gross abuse.”
This time Buttigieg has undermined Mepa’s integrity as an independent and impartial regulator by carrying out a site selection study on the location of a private enterprise. The part played by the CEO changes Mepa’s remit as regulator to one of facilitator of development, showing that he is quite unfit for the job.
If Buttigieg has any shred of self-respect he would resign forthwith. The fact that, on his own admission, he was following the Prime Minister’s orders is no excuse. Indeed, his shortcomings reflect badly on those who appointed him in the first place and, should he refuse to resign, the onus of his unethical handling of the Żonqor case falls squarely on the Prime Minister.
Even those broad shoulders may be nearing overload.