Nadur’s former mayor and local council executive secretary “breached their statutory obligations” by issuing almost €38,000 in direct orders over three years, the Local Governance Board has found.
It also found that Nadur local council was illegally asking for money for the use of public sites such as Dahlet Qorrot and San Blas.
In a decision published this evening, the Board recommended that former mayor Charles Said and executive secretary Rita Mifsud Attard be subjected to "whatever measures deemed suitable” by the director of the local government department.
It reached its conclusions after the local government department’s monitoring unit asked it to investigate 20 direct orders made by the council between 2012 and 2014. The direct orders amounted to €37,495.49 in total.
Monitoring unit investigators found no reference to the direct orders in council Management Letters for 2012, 2013 or 2014, and found no evidence that architects had certified completed works, the Board found.
According to the law, local councils can only issue direct orders for work costing up to a maximum of €1,164.69. More costly works of up to €4.658.75 require councils to source at least three different quotations.
Ms Attard told the Board that all payments she had issued were done with the council’s full approval, including that of former mayor Mr Said. She told the Board that she had been keen to work with the council and could not go against its will or against “orders made directly by former mayor Charles Said.”
Mr Said declined the Board’s invitation to testify.
Mayors and executive secretaries, the Board noted, had a legal obligation to immediately report any irregularities in council finances. Neither Ms Attard nor Mr Said had done so in this case, it found.
In its decision, the Board accused the department of local government of lacking oversight and failing to be proactive in ensuring such irregularities did not occur.
It asked the director of local government to strengthen its monitoring unit “with immediate effect”, and set a one-week deadline for the director to issue a circular to all local council executive secretaries reminding them of their legal obligations.
Local councils can also expect to receive a circular reminding them that they are not authorised to collect money for the use of public spaces.
The Local Governance Board is composed of three members - chairman Noel Bartolo and members Arthur Ellul and Ronnie Pellegrini.