Mayor Mario Calleja requested that the Sadden Group build a new local council in return for his blessing on the new university.Mayor Mario Calleja requested that the Sadden Group build a new local council in return for his blessing on the new university.

Four environment NGOs have questioned the moral integrity of Marsascala mayor Mario Calleja following his deal with the Sadeen Group, which is behind the new university at Żonqor Point.

In a joint statement, they condemned the mayor’s request to the company to construct new premises for the local council in return for a blessing to develop the university.

“To even contemplate accepting, let alone asking for such a bribe, goes against fundamental morality and cannot be justified by any stretch of the imagination,” Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Friends of the Earth, the Ramblers Association and KoPIN said in their statement.

The deal was announced last week during a council meeting. Mr Calleja said he had the CEO’s permission to announce it publically.

The proposed location of the university lies in an Outside Development Zone, placing the project at the centre of controversy.

In August, the government announced a compromise, saying it would allocate 18,000 square metres of ODZ land instead of 90,000 square metres as was originally proposed.

Earlier this year, the Marsascala council called on the government to ensure that the open space at Żonqor remain protected and unbuilt. Having the council reverse its stand just a few months later spoke volumes, the NGOs said.

To even contemplate accepting, let alone asking for such a bribe, goes against fundamental morality and cannot be justified by any stretch of the imagination

They said his comments to the Times of Malta last week – that he would take what he could from the deal with Sadeen Group – were reminiscent of calls made recently by the president of the Malta Developers Association, Sandro Chetcuti, to developers to “make hay while the sun shines”.

“There is something very wrong with our society when those holding public positions publicly advocate opportunistic values instead of the common good.

“The acceptance of what can be considered a direct bribe to a local authority corrupts moral principles, weakens the fabric of civil society as a whole and has to be opposed in strongest terms.”

The NGOs called on Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to come down heavily on such practices.

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