Wasteserv employed 162 new workers during the first six months of last year, the highest number since 2010.

This was confirmed by the State waste management company CEO Tonio Montebello during a Public Accounts Committee session this afternoon.

Mr Montebello, who has been serving as CEO since 2014, supplied the information to the Committee as part of an investigation called by the Opposition which has insisted the number of employees at Wasteserv spiked in the run up to the election.

Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina [asked] him to confirm that in the five weeks prior to the general election, 112 people had been employed by the company

According to the CEO, in 2016, there were 79 new workers employed, while in the previous year there had been 135 new employees.

Asked by Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina to confirm that in the five weeks prior to the general election, 112 people had been employed by the company, Mr Montebello insisted he did not recall and would have to confirm the data during the next sitting.

Mr Montebello also could not say whether any workers had been employed by Wasteserv only to serve at the Valley Management Unit.

Pressed by both Labour MPs Julia Farrugia Portelli and Robert Abela to say whether the current number of employees was enough to meet the company’s needs, the CEO insisted this was not, insisting that the “figures are justified”.

He insisted that the company is some 80 to 100 people short, pointing out that the industry was a “dangerous and dirty” one and therefore saw frequent changes in the number of employees.