Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1464865
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 APRIL 2022 10 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA A Court of Appeal has con- firmed a decison by the Indus- trial Tribunal in 2021 that ruled that former Malta Internation- al Airport chief executive of- ficer Markus Klaushofer had breached company confidential- ity, when he exchanged sensitive data with a prospective buyer for MIA shares. Klaushofer's bid to have his 2015 sacking ruled illegal and ob- tain damages beyond a €400,000 termination offer – which he re- fused – had been thrown out by the Industrial Tribunal, which found him in serious breach of his obligations. A Court of Appeal found that that the tribunal's decision was reached based on factual evi- dence, and refused Klaushofer's request to re-examine the claims on which he was sacked. Indeed, the appeals court said Klaush- ofer had not denied having met representatives from a rival company that was interested in acquiring a considerable stake in MIA. Klaushofer was in fact accused of providing confidential da- ta to Antin Infrastructure, an interested buyer for SNC-Lav- alin's share in the consortium that owns MIA. MIA's majority shareholder (86%) today is Vien- na International Airport opera- tor VIE. MIA chairman Nicholas Gretz- macher had accused Klaushofer of providing Antin with airport data, to become "friendly" with the new investor and retain his executive position. MIA chief executive officer Alan Borg also said Klaushofer had requested traffic forecasts from his own subordinates, and even give the data a positive spin to influence MIA share price. Borg said Klaushofer was an- gling for a new 10-year contract as CEO at double his €175,000 salary, with Antin, which at the time was locally represented by former MIA shareholder Mi- chael Bianchi in a bid to acquire the SNC-Lavalin stake. Even Antin representative Maurizio Bolana told the Indus- trial Tribunal that Klaushofer's bid to extend his CEO's tenure during an August 2014, had not left a positive image of the can- didate with Antin's CEO Alan Rauscher. "Klaushofer must have been... providing information which the company was not authorized to provide to third parties… there was the possibility that the infor- mation being provided was pro- jecting an image of the company which was not correct, through inflated figures and forecasts," Gretzmacher told the Tribunal in an affidavit. After sacking the CEO, an in- vestigation revealed that Klaush- ofer had spent 220 days away from the island in 2014. Klaushofer also stayed in Paris twice during December 2014 and January 2015, ostensibly to meet Antin representatives, where throughout his stay he asked MIA employees to email him the business plan for the coming 10 years, MIA forecasts, and data on non-aviation income. This was confirmed by some 60 telephone calls with Antin representatives lasting in total over five hours as well as 400 text messages; Gretzmacher said Klaushofer had "particularly in- sensitive contact" with Michael Bianchi, with 42 calls and 382 SMSes. "Klaushofer had an obligation to report immediately any at- tempt made by a representative of the consortium to establish contact… he not only violated this obligation, he also main- tained close contact with the consortium over the course of several months during a criti- cal phase for the sales negotia- tions," Gretzmacher said. Klaushofer insisted with the board that his sacking had been a fait accompli, instrumentalised by MIA's majority shareholder VIE and its chief operating of- ficer Julian Jaeger, MIA's one- time chief executive. But during the hearing, he first denied meet- ing Antin CEO Alan Rauscher, then later admitted discussing the possibility of being kept on as CEO should Antin acquire the MIA shares. The Tribunal said the alleged contacts between Klaushofer and Antin had revealed a serious breach of the CEO's obligations, and that his actions had placed MIA at risk, denying the compa- ny his "full and unquestionable trust". Airport boss sacked over rival bid talks loses appeal Former Malta International Airport chief executive officer Markus Klaushofer 2021 sees lowest approval of ODZ dwellings in five years JAMES DEBONO IN 2021 the Planning Authori- ty approved 107 new dwellings outside development zones (ODZ), the lowest number since 2016. The number of new ODZ dwellings represented 1.4% of the 7,578 new dwellings ap- proved in 2021, down 2.8% in the previous year. The approval of dwellings in the ODZ is limited to the re- development and extensions of existing farmhouses or to developments in rural hamlets and is regulated by the rural policy which also permits the reconstruction of countryside ruins. A review of the rural policy started in October 2019 is still awaiting approval. A draft poli- cy with stricter rules was issued for public consultation in June 2020. The PA is still bound to issue a second draft for public consultation before the stricter policy is given final approval. But the decline in ODZ per- mits suggests that the new board chaired by Martin Camilleri has been stricter in its interpretation of the existing policy. The highest number of ODZ dwellings in the last decade was approved in 2016 when 283 dwellings were approved out- side development zones, just two years after the rural policy came into place. In an indication that the pol- icy facilitated more construc- tion outside the building zones (ODZ), only 810 dwellings were approved between 2008 and 2014, compared to 1,267 in the period between 2015 and 2021. The number of ODZ dwellings had increased from 139 in 2018 to 214 in 2019 and remained stable at 216 in 2020. This rep- resented 3.8% of all dwellings approved in that particular year. Previously the largest number of ODZ dwellings was approved in 2005 when 285 ODZ dwellings were approved. ODZ dwellings approved in past 10 years 2012 42 2013 81 2014 68 2015 71 2016 283 2017 136 2018 139 2019 214 2020 217 2021 107 Total 1,358