The Wild Birds Regulation Unit, which manages hunting and trapping activities, has been instructed to make staff changes after this newspaper revealed recruitment breached the public service management code.
The Office of the Prime Minister confirmed that instructions have been given the Animal Rights Secretariat to move one of two brothers out of the unit.
The Sunday Times of Malta revealed the unit recruited two brothers, Richard Lia and Joseph Lia, who are both hunting and trapping enthusiasts, to work side by side even though the public service management code states that relatives should not be working within the same government unit.
The WBRU, which falls under Animal Rights Parliamentary Secretary Roderick Galdes, was set up two months after the Labour Party was voted into power on the promise that the government would continue with the practice of spring hunting, an activity now subject to a referendum on April 11.
Among other tasks, the unit justifies the derogations (exemptions) from the EU Birds Directive to allow spring hunting and autumn trapping, which the directive bans.
This newspaper is informed the unit is putting up a great deal of resistance to instructions given, arguing that although the brothers work within the same unit, there is no conflict of interest.
The secretariat continues to defend its recruitment practice, stating that Joseph Lia was recruited through an intra-public service call for applications.
It is also arguing his brother has a Master’s degree in conservation biology, specialising in avian species. This contradicts information given to this newspaper, which asked the secretariat two weeks ago to provide copies of his qualifications. These were never presented.
The recruitment of the unit’s head, Sergei Golovkin was made without a call for applications, which also goes against the recommendations of the Public Service Commission.
The secretariat said Mr Golovkin was “seconded” from the Malta Environment and Planning Authority because the unit had to be set up quickly.
Yet, Mr Golovkin’s appointment did not follow the rules of secondment where staff do not get a new contract or an increase in salary through allowances. Principal Permanent Secretary, Mario Cutajar, has chosen not to contest his appointment.
The Office of the Prime Minister has also defended the appointment of Albert Pace as advisor to Animal Rights Parliamentary Secretary Roderick Galdes.
The Sunday Times of Malta revealed one of his first tasks was to advise on the revision of a law that decriminalised bird callers – the use of which he was convicted of a few years earlier.
Bird callers are banned under the EU Birds Directive because they are used to lure in whole flocks of bird species by mimicking their call. They therefore enable the mass capture of birds of the same species and are regarded as a destructive tool. But the OPM considers the offence a “minor” one.