I am truly amazed that the Auditor General’s report on his investigation into the Mater Dei Hospital project, which took about 17 years to complete, did not make it to the front pages of the daily English language newspapers since he estimated there were discrepancies totalling at least €352 million.

The damning report says, for example, that, despite all his efforts, it was not possible for the Auditor General to investigate “as he would have wished due to the significant lack of documentation in regard to all the stages of the project”.

The NAO concluded that the inability by the Foundation for Medical Services (the authority overseeing the project, of which Nationalist Party secretary general Clyde Puli formed part) to provide even basic information “is a clear sign of institutional failure and serious negligence in the administration of public funds”. In my view, it is not just a matter of “serious negligence” but criminal negligence too.

The above is just the tip of an enormous scandal of how hundreds of millions of euros in taxpayers’ money had been squandered by the previous PN governments that, today, from the Opposition benches, keep trying to portray themselves as paragons of good governance and accountability.

To add insult to injury, the same irresponsible PN administrations had given Skanska, the Swedish contractor responsible for the construction of Mater Dei, that infamous waiver clause, freeing them from any legal responsibility if any defects of whatever nature – as happened when tests found serious defects in the standard of concrete used – would come to light in the future.

I urge readers to go through the NAO report and decide whether the people sitting on the Opposition benches today, preaching about scandals, good governance, transparency and accountability can be taken seriously.