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3 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 3 MAY 2023 NEWS Kirkop tunnel project delayed because of additional asphalt works Public Accounts Committee has to wait for Constitutional Court ruling CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 He cited Erskine May in saying that a select committee hearing was subordinate to a court in matters of law. Schembri filed the Constitu- tional case after the PAC refused to allow him to suspend his testi- mony, when MPs from the PAC requested a criminal investiga- tion into alleged perjury emanat- ing from his testimony, and from others. The former chief of staff to Jo- seph Muscat claimed the PN MPs breached his right to a fair hearing, after they requested an investigation into perjury alle- gations. The investigation was requested into what the PN MPs claimed had been false testimony by Schembri, as well as former fi- nance minister Edward Scicluna and former deputy Police Com- missioner Silvio Valletta. In their constitutional applica- tion, Schembri's lawyers Edward Gatt and Mark Vassallo, argud their client's right to a fair hear- ing was breached when Carabott, as PAC chairman, denied him a ruling from the Speaker to sus- pend the testimony pending the criminal investigation the MPs had requested. Carabott said such a request could only be made by MPs, none of whom consented to Schem- bri's request. Schembri then re- fused to answer any further ques- tions, citing the constitutional challenge he was to file, leading Carabott to request a Speaker's ruling to force Schembri to keep testifying. In so doing, Schembri's lawyers said, the MPs had abandoned their positions as members of an impartial committee in favour of making themselves complain- ants against a person who was testifying before them, by filing a premature criminal complaint before the testimony had even finished. The particular circumstanc- es of the incident had given rise to a "probably unprecedented" situation whereby a witness had been ordered to testify before the PAC in the Parliament build- ing, administered the oath by the President of the PAC, replied to nearly four hours of questions put to him by three members of the same PAC, who had request- ed – in their own name - a police investigation into the witness, before he had finished testifying and above all, a witness who had been asking for the protection of the Speaker of the House, by ask- ing the PAC President to refer his request for a suspension of testi- mony until the police investiga- tions were complete. "The respondents, in their priv- ileged position of power, abused this position by themselves start- ing a criminal investigation into a witness who was still testifying before them and this without consulting with the rest of the Permanent Committee or put- ting this to a vote," the lawyers said. Schembri's lawyers stressed that he had not invoked his right to si- lence to avoid self-incrimination, but had instead, answered four hours of questions. "Through their behaviour and with the po- litical stunt they carried out, the defendants reduced an important institution to ridicule…and clear- ly showed that their interest was not so much the public spending they were supposedly scrutinis- ing, but more that of scoring met- aphorical political points." In his testimony before the PAC, Schembri had refuted Ed- ward Scicluna's claim that the plans for an LNG power station had been taken by a clique of insiders he had described as a "kitchen cabinet", saying that Sci- cluna would have been involved in all major decisions in his role as Finance Minister. Schembri told the PAC that Scicluna's claim not to have been involved in the planning or deci- sions concerning the costings of the LNG plant, made no sense. He was involved, Schembri had said, "naturally enough and per- force, together with the perma- nent secretary Alfred Camilleri. It was no kitchen Cabinet… it was the Cabinet." KARL AZZOPARDI THE Kirkop Tunnel Project has encountered slight delays due to the inclusion of addi- tional asphalt works which were not included in the original plans, Infrastructure Malta said on Tuesday. "The pending works of final asphalt courses in particular areas was slightly delayed due to the inclusion of comple- mentary extents not originally covered in this project, namely parts of the road going to Hal Far and those extending from flyover to Kirkop tunnels," In- frastructure Malta CEO Ivan Falzon told MaltaToday. The pending final asphalt layers are scheduled to be concluded in the next few days, according to Falzon. In a press conference last March, Infrastructure Min- ister Aaron Farrugia said the project was nearing comple- tion, with work expected to be finished by the end of April. First started in January of 2021, the €18 million project is aimed at providing quick- er and safer connections to Luqa, Gudja, Birżebbuġa, Kirkop, Mqabba, Qrendi, Żurrieq and Safi. Last week the installation of gantries and preparatory work for road markings start- ed, with landscaping works scheduled to start thereafter. "Our attention now turns to the neighbouring distinct Luqa Junction Project with new routes planned to start being made available for use in the next few weeks," Falzon said. House Speaker Anglu Farrugia