An inquiry into the sequence of events which led the EU to suspend funding for educational programmes has called for disciplinary action against three senior officials at the Ministry of Education and the agency responsible for the programmes after finding that the whole affair ‘could have been avoided."

"The Board feels that the positions of the officers responsible at the National Authority (the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education Christopher Bezzina and the Director Policy Development and Programme Implementation Robert Tabone) as well as the National Agency (National Coordinator Mauro Parascandolo) are no longer tenable and recommends that appropriate action is taken in line with the applicable procedures."

In its report, published by the government this evening, the Board said that although there was clearly no intent on the part of any of the stakeholders and individuals involved to act irresponsibly and/or against the interest of the positions they hold and the public service in general, "the situation leading to the suspension (of the funds) could have been avoided".

It said that the National Authority which managed the programmes "consistently failed to take the necessary action to bring its internal management procedures in line with the European Commission's minimum requirements."

It said the agency's shortcomings in key compliance areas included, but were not limited to, checks on grants to beneficiaries, treasury management, segregation of duties, closure of agreements and documentation of procedures.

The issues were highlighted by the European Commission in various communications and monitoring visits.

"Many appear as early as 2006 and remained unresolved at the time of the monitoring missions of May 2009 and January 2010."

The board said the message from the European Commission regarding the risk of suspension of funds was clear and repeated, in writing, on more than one occasion.

"Decisive action should therefore have been taken by the National Authority and the National Agency as soon as the risk was detected."

What little progress had been made was too little, and fragmented, the Board said.

The full report can be seen by clicking the pdf document below: