Opposition MP Leo Brincat said in Parliament yesterday that, contrary to procedure, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had either misled the House intentionally or otherwise, or had himself been misled by Mepa.

Rising on a point of order at the start of question time, Mr Brincat said that on November 11 he had asked Dr Gonzi to say if any instructions had ever been issued to Mepa personnel that no cases were to be referred to the authority's audit office since the latter's inception.

Dr Gonzi had confirmed no such instructions had even been issued, but Mr Brincat yesterday presented a copy of a letter dating back to 2004 whereby Mepa Director of Planning Charles Borg, seemingly on his own personal initiative, had instructed senior officials that any request to the audit office had to be channelled through the executive committee.

These instructions had been filtered down to lower levels of the workforce by word of mouth, he added.

Mr Brincat asked Mr Speaker Louis Galea to investigate the case. Dr Galea said he would consider it, reserving the right to hear Mr Brincat and other persons.