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€0.90 WEDNESDAY EDITION WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT The saga of immigration officer WEDNESDAY • 30 OctOber 2013 • issue 338 • published every wednesday and sunday Norman Vella - PAGE 10 MEPA RETAINS LEGAL FIRM OF PRESIDENT'S SON IN UNBROKEN 15-YEAR RUN No public call for legal services THE son of President George Abe- la, Robert, has secured a three-year contract to provide legal services to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. Abela, who represents Abela Advocates, was previously serving MEPA on its appeals cases backlog when the authority outsourced this workload to the family firm Abela Stafrace Advocates. The contract has been extended from the previous contract with MEPA, without any public call. Over the next three years, Abela Advocates will be paid €107,263 for its work, and €54.99 for each hour of "additional work". The rate works out at a minimum of €2,979.55 per month. Environment Minister Leo Brincat told the House last week that MEPA had extended Abela Advocates' contract because the original contract, which was for a definite period, included an extension clause. Brincat said that MEPA obtained the finance ministry's approval on 2 July 2013 for the three-year extension. CONTINUES ON PAGE 2 PN activist enjoyed over 100 direct orders in five years A PN activist was awarded over 100 contracts in direct orders between 2008 and 2013. According to a parliamentary question tabled in parliament, the direct orders amounted to almost a quarter of a million euros. Karl Borg, owner at Karl Borg Events and a former PN employee, was awarded the contracts by former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi's secretariat. The services were mostly related to logistics, often including the renting of equipment for various events such as Christmas activities, Independence Day, Notte Bianca, receptions at Girgenti Palace, events held at Castille and so forth. CONTINUES ON PAGE 3 Robert Abela MALTATODAY WILLING TO JOIN ANTI-SPRING HUNTING COALITION IN a letter to the chairman of the coalition against spring hunting, MaltaToday has signalled its willingness to be part of the campaign to halt spring hunting. "Hunting in spring in Malta has served to massacre migrating birds and other bird species that are on their way to breed. "We pride ourselves in being a modern country, but hunting as practised in Malta is an abhorrent practise that only serves trophy killing. It must stop, and we are offering our media support to raise the number of signatures that will make it possible to call for a referendum next year." NEXT WEEK MALTATODAY MIDWEEK WILL BE PUBLISHED ON A TUESDAY BECAUSE OF BUDGET DAY ON 4 NOVEMBER Newspaper post MATTHEW VELLA