Wasteserv failed to pay €36,000 in value added tax on a contract it awarded to the international consulting firm SLR Consulting Ltd on the Waste Recycling Plant in Marsascala, an investigation by the auditor general concluded.

The tender, whose cost exceeded €200,000, had a variation order of an additional amount of €35,523 to amend the Environmental Impact Statement.

The investigation, requested by the Public Accounts Committee on the basis of a letter it received from Labour MP Owen Bonnici, concluded that SLR Consulting Ltd was paid the full tender amount, even though two reports were excluded from the Environmental Impact Statement.

The same company presented another two reports, the costings of which could not be identified in the schedule of rates forming part of the tender document submitted by the company.

Subsequently, WasteServ paid SLR Consulting Ltd an amount exceeding €4,000 for one of these reports, as part of the variation order.

It was also concluded that, WasteServ failed to make a payment of about €36,000 of value added tax on this contract.

This amount, equivalent to 18 percent of the total tender value, should have been taken into account when the tender was awarded, the Auditor General said.