14 July 2007 Rating 37% No Comment  

Alternattiva Demokratika would like to express its disappointment at the way the Mepa board has dealt with the reappointment of the investigating officer within Mepa's audit office. Dr Harry Vassallo, Chairperson AD said that "having a fully functional auditor's office is essential if Mepa is to be accountable for all its decisions. The decision taken by the Mepa board not to re-appoint Perit Carmel Cacopardo, as the investigator in the audit office shows that the Mepa board is trying to muzzle the functioning of its watchdog" added Dr Vassallo. Dr Vassallo also said that "Perit Cacopardo is known for his unwavering incorruptibility, scrupulous work ethic, technical capability and also for the meticulousness with which he performs his investigations. And therefore Mepa's failure to re-appoint him is even more suspicious. It is very evident that some of the reports issued recently by the Auditor's office have exposed too much raw flesh, and so it has decided to do away with an investigator whose working was proving to be damning for Mepa" added Dr Vassallo." Rather than putting its act together, Mepa has chosen to silence one of its harshest internal critics. Furthermore the explanations given by Mr Calleja are totally unacceptable and are a declaration of Mepa's intent: that of continuing to take distasteful decisions which are not in Malta 's interest, such as granting a permit for the Ramla il-Hamra development or waiving the EIA requirement for the Fort Cambridge project. This case continues to prove that Mepa is totally discredited as a regulator and that it needs to be radically reformed in order to make sure that the interests of the community are safeguarded.", added Dr Vassallo. Dr Vassallo continued by saying that, "In view of the forthcoming general elections, Alternattiva Demokratika - The Green Party is currently formulating its policy on the reform of Mepa. In a coalition with any one of the other two parties we will ensure that the Auditor's office is fully functional and totally independent of Mepa and its board. This will be done attaching the Audit office to the Ombudsman's office. The Ombudsman will also be responsible for nominating the Audit Officer and the investigator.""All those who have had enough of Mepa's current, scandalous way of doing things, have to make sure that AD is elected to parliament, only in this way can be break free from a cycle which threatens to put our natural heritage in jeopardy", concluded Dr Vassallo.