The Marsascala mayor and his council were cleared by the Local Governance Board which decided the mayor had not acted in breach of the law or unethically when he proposed the building of a new council premises if a planning gain was imposed on Sadeen Group by the Planning Authority.

In its seven-page decision, the board said it investigated the mayor on its own initiative but also received a request for an investigation from the Front Harsien ODZ when its investigation was already underway.

Mayor Mario Calleja had confirmed with Times of Malta that that the council had asked the developers for help in kind, including the building of the council’s new premises, which it desperately needed.

The board concluded that the council had already voted in favour of the project when the mayor and the executive secretary proposed to the developers that should a planning gain be imposed, part of it should be used for the development of new council premises.

But the board did not speak to other council members or to the journalist who first revealed what the mayor had said. Mr Calleja had told this newspaper: “I will take what I can. Otherwise, how are we going to build the new premises without the funds? We did what everyone else would do. There’s nothing wrong with this.”

Mr Calleja had told this newspaper: “I will take what I can. Otherwise, how are we going to build the new premises without the funds?

He referred to “capital gain” for the council from the project, a term also reflected in the minutes of the local council meeting where the deal was presented to the other councillors. A copy of the minutes was seen by Times of Malta, although they are not available on the council’s website despite the law making this requirement clear.

The council also requested that other problems in the vicinity of the project be resolved.

However, only the planning authority could decide whether or not to allow the project, what should be the planning gain and what projects should benefit.

It decided that the mayor’s behaviour was not unethical or against the law when he asked the developers, in the interest of the locality, to help in the building of a new administrative centre for the council.

The decision, which can be read in the PDF link below, was signed by board chairman Noel Bartolo, secretary Jonathan Mizzi and members Arthur Ellul and Ronnie Pellegrini.