Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1480970
4 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 5 OCTOBER 2022 4 NEWS MATTHEW AGIUS A 36-year-old woman from Tarxien was remanded in custody earlier today after appearing in court on charges of at- tacking and slightly injuring one of her neighbours with a bottle. Prosecuting police inspector Paul Camilleri also charged Tiziana At- tard with failing to sign her bail book in connection with separate criminal proceedings. He told Magistrate Josette Demicoli that a woman had filed a police report about the incident, which followed an argument between her and the ac- cused. Initial efforts by the police to find Attard and bring her in for ques- tioning were unsuccessful, but she was later apprehended at the police station whilst signing her bail book. The court was also told that she would often sign it outside the hours specified in her bail conditions, or not at all. The woman chose not to answer questions during her interrogation, added the inspector. Defence lawyer Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici pointed out that the injuries suffered by the victim were slight, during his bail submissions. He ar- gued that any charge of breaching bail still had to be proven and was not a valid ground to refuse her release from custody. The fight had started inside the woman's apartment with the defence claiming that Attard had been pro- voked, Mifsud Bonnici added. The prosecution objected to bail, on the grounds of proven untrustworthi- ness and because the accused and the alleged victim lived in the same apart- ment block. Mifsud Bonnici insisted that the ac- cused had not started the fight and that this was borne out by medical certificates, with the prosecution re- plying that Attard should not be re- leased from arrest due to her "rage filled character." Her lawyer quipped that "half the country was angry" and this alone did not merit incarceration. The request for bail was eventually refused, due to the proximity of the involved parties' residences, as well as the untrustworthiness of the accused. MATTHEW VELLA GOVERNMENT whip Glenn Bedingfield will be coordinating a series of proposals to update Parliament's standing orders, which will include recommendations last presented in May by the Opposition. "The proposals will be comprehensive and will then be discussed in parliamenta- ry fora with the government's parliamen- tary group's position being that reflected by this detailed process," the Labour Party said in a statement. "The government has a mandate to con- tinue to modernise the country's parlia- mentary system and the implementation of the standing orders was one way how Parliament can become more efficient, ef- fective and modern." In May, the Nationalist Party proposed the introduction of a 'prime minister's question time' in parliament, with the prime minister having to respond to ques- tions put to him from other MPs on a weekly basis. In a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, a member of the House Business committee, PN MPs David Agius and Robert Cutajar laid out several pro- posals intended on bettering the work of Malta's parliamentarians. As suggested by the MPs, the proposed weekly question time would be based on the similar procedure that takes place in the British parliament. In the UK, the Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) event takes place every Wednesday at noon. While the PM only answers questions from MPs, UK residents can visit the chamber when it's in session. Apart from question time, the PN is fur- ther proposing to reserve a parliamentary session every two weeks to discuss a mo- tion presented by the Opposition. In the present procedure, such a session can only take place once every three to six months. "The Parliamentary Opposition, that represents thousands of Maltese and Gozitans, could really have a better say in discussions in the highest institution in the country." Another proposal includes setting up a permanent parliamentary committee for justice. There would be a majority of gov- ernment MPs sitting on the committee, but sessions would be presided by a Mem- ber of the Opposition. "There should also be a committee to up- date the actual Standing Orders," the MPs said. Other proposals include beefing up the Opposition's resources, discussing Om- budsman reports within an established time period, and opening a childcare cen- tre for MPs and parliamentary workers, including members of the corps. No bail for woman charged over bottle assault on neighbour Parliamentary standing orders earmarked for update PAC to review Electrogas minutes submitted by Tumas CEO Ray Fenech NICOLE MEILAK MINUTES for high-level meet- ings in Electrogas and GEM Holdings have been presented to parliament's public accounts committee (PAC), but will not be made public. Tumas Group CEO Ray Fenech submitted the minutes of Elec- trogas meetings to the PAC on Tuesday. The committee will be reviewing the documents in pri- vate. The minutes relate to the oper- ations of Electrogas Malta (EGM) and GEM Holdings, which is the company that represents the three Maltese shareholders in the Electrogas consortium. The documents cover 2013 to 2017, which marked the financial close of the project. The consortium was awarded a controversial tender to build and operate a gas power station and liquefied natural gas terminal at Delimara. Michael Grech, the compa- ny secretary for Electrogas and GEM, joined Fenech for the com- mittee meeting to present the company minutes. He explained that Raymond Sladden used to be the company secretary, but confirmed that the minutes or certified copies. Fenech requested that the doc- uments remain unpublished, pointing out that there might be commercially sensitive data or other information subject to GD- PR. "We can't put ourselves liable for issues of GDPR or commer- cial sensitivity unless this com- mittee absolves us of that respon- sibility." The MPs agreed to this request and proceeded to review the min- utes behind closed doors. Grech added that few formal meetings were held in GEM Holdings. He said that most meetings would be held on the periphery of Electrogas meetings. "Formal meetings wouldn't take place at GEM Holdings." Ray Fenech will testify before the committee on Tuesday, 11 October after its members have reviewed the minutes. Central Bank governor Edward Scicluna will be testifying on the same day. Scicluna was the fi- nance minister when the power station deal was negotiated and signed off. The PAC is probing the find- ings of a 500-page NAO audit in- to the multi-million-euro tender awarded to Electrogas in 2013. The NAO report concluded in 2018 had raised several concerns over the tendering process, es- pecially how certain conditions were changed halfway through the tendering process.