The Motor Hearses Association has failed to submit quarterly accounts as it was obliged to do under a 2008 agreement, which saw them benefit from a €230,000 government grant, according to the Auditor General.

In the 277-page annual audit report for 2009, tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, the National Audit Office said up to last month the association had failed to submit detailed accounts on how its members spent the money allocated to them by the government.

The agreement was signed in July 2008 after transport operators went on strike when the government moved to liberalise the hearses sector.

The government bound itself to pay the sum of €230,000 as support to the association members to face the challenges brought about by liberalisation.

According to the NAO, the transport authority forwarded the agreed amount in May 2009 and informed the association of its obligation to submit quarterly accounts, detailing how the funds were being utilised. However, last April the regulator informed the NAO the hearses association had “failed to submit any accounts as requested by letter dated May 15, 2009”.

It was after the NAO query that Transport Malta got in touch with the association to request the necessary documentation for 2009. The association was given a deadline for May 15, which was subsequently extended to the end of the month, to no avail.

Transport Malta then filed a judicial protest on grounds that figures submitted by the association were not deemed to be detailed enough and part of the expenditure was not accounted for. As a result, the NAO said, it was not in a position to accomplish its audit task.