The former PN candidate Carmel Cacopardo, who is embroiled in a row over the Malta Environment and Planning Authority’s refusal to re-appoint him as an investigator of its planning decisions, has stated that the authority’s objection to his participation in a Green Party meeting was “a throwback to (former Labour minister) Lorry Sant’s time”.
Cacopardo’s participation in a discussion organised by Alternattiva Demokratika with NGOs on the topic of MEPA reform has been cited as one the reasons by MEPA chairman Andrew Calleja for Cacopardo’s ineligibility for reappointment as investigating officer in the Audit Office.
“There was only one person who treated me like this in the past: Lorry Sant”, Cacopardo said, who in 1984 was fired from the Works Department and physically evicted by the police from his office after writing articles criticising the Works Minister in the Nationalist party organ In-Nazzjon.
In a landmark judgement in 1986, the Constitutional Court decreed his dismissal as tantamount to political discrimination.
Following his participation in the AD meeting, Andrew Calleja declared that Cacopardo is too “pre-conceived” in his ideas to be trusted in his post. He also criticised Cacopardo for writing an article calling for an overhaul of MEPA structures. According to Calleja “the audit office’s function can never be associated with the kind of bias and pre-conceived ideas,” he wrote in the Times article.
But Cacopardo is claiming MEPA is using two weights and two measures when it comes to the participation of its officials in political events, citing the participation of the authority’s assistant director Marie Briguglio in the PN’s last general council where she chaired a sub-committee on environmental issues.
“She had every right to participate just as I had every right to chair an AD meeting with NGOs,” Cacopardo said.
He also referred to former MEPA board secretary Francis Tabone, who was never censored for serving as a Nationalist councillor on the Mdina local council.
On Monday, AD chairman Harry Vassallo explained that Cacopardo was asked to chair the meeting precisely because he is considered to be “an honest broker in an exchange between AD and a number of external consultants invited to influence the Green Party’s policy formation.”
But Cacopardo’s participation in the meeting is not the only reason given by Andrew Calleja to justify his veto, who deems Cacopardo ineligible for reappointment for “grudging the appointment” of Martin Seychell as MEPA’s Director for Environment Protection and for “harbouring a deep rooted” belief that the MEPA chairman is biased against him.
Cacopardo had lodged a complaint over the post for environment director with the Ombudsman after he was not chosen for the post. “I do not even know Martin Seychell personally and I hold no grudges against him. But it is within my right to lodge a complaint if I think I was unfairly treated.”
Although his complaint was turned down by the Ombudsman, who found no evidence of foul play in the selection process, Joseph Said Pullicino criticised the selection process for its lack of transparency. Cacopardo has since written back to the Ombudsman and is expecting a reply. “This case is definitely not a closed one,” he said.
Cacopardo has also made it clear that his conflicts with the MEPA chairman started from the first day in office, two years before lodging his complaint with the Ombudsman.
“Just six months after my appointment the MEPA Chairman tried to stop us sending our reports to complainants,” Cacopardo said, alleging that in 2005 he was present in a meeting were Environment Minister George Pullicino asked Audit Officer Joe Falzon to change parts of his annual report.
When contacted by MaltaToday, Falzon confirmed that Pullicino actively intervenes in MEPA. “When I write the preliminary annual report I always send it to the MEPA chairman for the board’s comments. The chairman always sends the preliminary report to the minister. I have no objection if he sends him the final report but by sending the preliminary report he is opening the door for political interference,” Falzon told MaltaToday.

Cacopardo row
Falzon is sticking to his guns over having his former investigative officer reappointed to his post, insisting that the Development Planning Act does not give the MEPA chairman any prerogative in the choice of officials working in his office.
Falzon also insists he should have the final say on whether Cacopardo should become his investigating officer. “The law only says that MEPA should provide me with the facilities. It does not give the chairman any power to intervene in the choice of my staff.”
Falzon has now written to Calleja arguing that he had only accepted his reappointment as auditor on condition that he chooses his own officials and that he is appointed for three years. “The MEPA Chairman has already broken that condition by changing my secretary without consulting me. More seriously he is refusing my recommendation to appoint Carmel Cacopardo.”
Falzon contends that the chairman is not even ready to meet him.
The MEPA chairman has now asked Ombudsman Joseph Said Pullicino to give his suggestions on how to resolve the situation.
But Falzon is adamant: “I respect the Ombudsman but the Development Planning Act law does not give him any say on the appointment of my officials.”
Falzon has also dismissed the chairman’s argument that Cacopardo is ineligible because he chaired an AD meeting. “Cacopardo has been in politics as a Nationalist candidate for a long time and nobody found any objection. His participation in an AD meeting was limited to facilitating a meeting of NGOs. I find no problem with that.”
Falzon described the chairman’s vision of politics as “a parochial one typical of a kazin.”
Andrew Calleja contends that a person eligible to hold the post of investigation officer should be “objective” and “limit his conclusions to specific cases under investigation.”
Falzon told MaltaToday that Cacopardo had shown him a copy of the article before sending it to the Times. “This just a puerile excuse as Cacopardo has a right to his opinion on the way the environment should be protected… the only reason Cacopardo is not wanted is because he was doing a good job.”
The MEPA chairman however contends that “it is inconceivable, unless attributed to prejudice and grievance that a person aspiring for three times for the post of Director of Environmental Protection has now penned an article challenging the current set up of MEPA.”
But Falzon said this issue is completely irrelevant as it would effectively disqualify practically anyone who applied for a post and was refused. “Using this argument everyone in Malta has a grudge against someone. One cannot deem someone ineligi