Bertu Pace, a former MP and hunting consultant to Labour, is advising the Parliamentary Secretary for Animal Rights.

Former Labour MP Bertu Pace, who was the party’s main consultant on hunting and trapping before the election, is working as an adviser to Parliamentary Secretary for Animal Rights Roderick Galdes, Times of Malta has learnt.

At the same time, Birdlife has claimed a new unit meant to act as a regulator of hunting laws has been staffed with hunting activists, which include Mr Pace and Joseph Lia – a member of the FKNK’s executive committee.

A spokesman for Mr Galdes yesterday confirmed Mr Pace was appointed as his adviser “on various issues” a few days after the March election.

The spokesman did not specify Mr Pace’s role, saying only that the ex-MP was engaged on a 30-hour week contract with a remuneration of €17,566 a year.

He and Mr Lia have been placed in the Wild Birds Regulation Unit within the secretariat for Animal Welfare.

The unit, which will be responsible for compiling derogation reports to be forwarded to the European Commission, is managed by an acting head, ex-Mepa employee Sergei Golovnik.

Birdlife said he would soon be given the permanent role through another political appointment.

Contacted by Times of Malta, Birdlife executive director Steve Micklewright confirmed that during a recent meeting with Mr Galdes they were given information about the new unit and its aims.

However, while Birdlife agrees in principle to the unit, it is objecting to its staff and questioning its independence.

According to Mr Micklewright, making the unit part of the ministry does not ensure that it is free from political influence. He said the body should be placed within the environment section of Mepa.

He added that, while Mr Galdes had every right to appoint advisers he trusted, recruiting Mr Pace “inevitably creates suspicion about the motives behind the creation of this unit”.

“We fail to understand how someone who has acted as a political adviser can apparently be appointed as a member of staff of a unit when he has been giving advice over its creation,” Mr Micklewright said.

On Mr Lia, Birdlife said that he has a clear conflict of interest.

“As a member of the FKNK council, Mr Lia has too great a conflict of interest to be a credible member of staff within the unit.”

Only a few days ago, Birdlife and the Government were at loggerheads over the failure to provide information on this year’s spring hunting season.

Birdlife had accused the Government of concealing data and reported the issue to the European Commission.

The Government denied the accusation and stated the required data would soon be presented to the Ornis Committee.