MEPA auditor’s bombshell:
James Debono
Decisions taken by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) in the past weeks could be challenged in Court because the current composition of the MEPA board might be in violation of the law, MEPA auditor Joe Falzon warns.
The planning authority’s ombudsman is questioning the legality of Austin Walker’s appointment as MEPA executive chairman, and that of Labour MP and MEPA employee Roderick Galdes as the Opposition’s member on the MEPA board.
Falzon says the Development Planning Act prohibits employees of any public agency – such as MEPA – from serving on the MEPA board, the highest decision-making organ in the authority.
Falzon has now asked the new MEPA chairman, Austin Walker, to seek the advice of the Attorney General regarding the legality of his “double role” as board chairman and an executive officer – a position which effectively makes him an employee of the Authority.
Falzon also expressed strong doubts on the appointment of Labour MP Roderick Galdes as the Opposition’s representative on the MEPA board, who is also an employee of MEPA.
“The Development Planning Act makes it clear that any servant of a public agency cannot serve on the board. As MEPA employees, both Galdes and the new MEPA chairman are servants of a public agency,” Falzon told MaltaToday when contacted.
Falzon considers the implications of Walker’s appointment as “executive chairman” even more serious than Galdes’s, because the Labour MP’s role only becomes vital when his presence is required to reach a quorum.
“Austin Walker’s double role as chairman of the board and MEPA’s full-time employee could expose him to a conflict of interest. Being responsible for all that happens within MEPA, he does not enter board meetings with a clean slate,” Falzon contends.
MEPA’s former chairman, Andrew Calleja, was not responsible for MEPA’s day-to-day running which falls under the responsibility of director-general Godwin Cassar, who is still employed at MEPA. Neither was he directly employed with MEPA as he was only paid an honorarium.
Calleja’s own position did not stop Falzon from exposing the former chairman’s conflict of interest when he took part in meetings with private developers.
“The appointment of Austin Walker risks institutionalising this state of affairs as in his role as executive chairman he can actively participate in the processing of applications,” Falzon said.
Falzon expressed his concern that objectors to MEPA’s recent decisions could question the legality of the chairman’s appointment in the law courts to revoke decisions taken by the MEPA board. “This is a very serious situation,” Falzon said.
Major decisions taken during Walker’s term in office included the approval of the Fort Cambridge 20-storey development and a conservation order precluding three-storey development next to the Lija tower.
The Auditor has so far not received any reply from Walker on the legality of his appointment. “If this situation is not redressed, I will be writing about it in my comments in MEPA’s annual report,” Falzon said.
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
