Labour deputy leader Chris Cardona said today that former minister and parliamentary secretary Chris Said had given a new interpretation to political responsibility when he accepted responsibility after a damning report by the Auditor-General yesterday, but did nothing about it.
Dr Cardona was reacting after the National Audit Office in a report yesterday criticised Dr Said for undue interference in the allocation of funds to local councils.
Dr Said had accepted responsibility, but insisted he had not discriminated between councils and only acted in order them to enable the councils to carry out more projects.
Dr Cardona said Dr Said, when he was parliamentary secretary for local councils, used to allocate additional funds to the councils, and there was insufficient documentation of what used to take place.
This did not reflect transparency and good governance.
The auditor had not believed Dr Said's claim that he had intervened only to speed up processes.
The labour deputy leader noted how there was no budgeting for various funding schemes for the councils.
He noted that while admitting responsibility, Dr Said had not done anything about it. His actions had not been condemned by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil.
Parliamentary Secretary Stefan Buontempo, who is now responsible for local councils, such that such was the low standard of governance in the past that some councils used to bypass the Evaluation Committee and proceed directly to Dr Said when they needed funding.
He said that Victoria Council had applied late for funds under a particular scheme, and the application date was extended to accommodate it.
Nadur Council had been given €7,000 under a particular scheme, instead of the €5,000 it was eligible for, after intervention by the then Office of the Prime Minister.
SAID FENDS OFF CRITICISM
Meanwhile, Dr Said in a press conference said that he only ever intervened in order to correct “omissions and mistakes”.
Dr Said acknowledged that the funding schemes for local councils administered between 2008 and 2013 could have followed better procedures “in general”.
The Auditor General identified instances where Dr Said secretariat was involved in the shortlisting of applications received, the evaluation of submissions and the determination of funds to be allocated.
Dr Said said he had taken note of the recommendations made in the report. He insisted he only intervened when necessary, and always used to do his utmost to ensure that local councils absorbed all the funds available.
He again flatly denied any discrimination between PN and Labour-led local councils.
Dr Said pointed out that under a funding scheme administered by this government, 86 per cent of the available funds went to PL-led councils.
Under the previous administration, 52 per cent of the funds for similar schemes went to local councils with a Labour majority, Dr Said said.