Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/373141
maltatoday Newspaper post YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT HOSPICE MALTA'S CARE SERVICES MANAGER ANNA ZAMMIT PAGE 9 SUNDAY • 31 AUGUST 2014 • ISSUE 773 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY BALZAN GETS THE ICE BUCKET TREATMENT BEFORE THE BUCKET BEFORE THE BUCKET BEFORE THE BUCKET Arrival/Departure Hall Malta International Airport BEFORE THE BUCKET BEFORE THE BUCKET BEFORE THE BUCKET 'Few people knew we were taking care of ALS patients before the ice bucket challenge came along' €1.20 DIGITAL DREAM How MaltaToday cartoonist Mark Scicluna brings his creations to life PG5 WATCH NOW ON MALTATODAY ONLINE PHILANTHROPISTS' RESCUE VESSEL SAVES OVER 200 MIGRANTS AT SEA PG 3 After MEPA turned it down in 2012, Armier squatters get electricity substation • PAGE 4 Government- blessed illegality, squatters get substation Private company gets €116,000 for two months of 'bird-watching' TIM DIACONO ENVIRONMENTAL company Ecos- erv is being paid €116,230 by the government to see how many turtle doves and common quail f ly over Malta during the upcoming autumn hunting season. The study will commence on 1 Sep- tember, the first day of this year's au- tumn hunting season, and will con- tinue until 31 October. Ecoserv, which has had experience on studies on fisheries, will set up at least 20 monitoring stations in stra- tegic locations around Malta, Gozo and Comino. Six of those stations will be manned by at least two experienced orni- thologists or field assistants every day. They will count turtle doves by observing them as they f ly overhead or roost within the study area. Since common quail tend to seek cover on the ground, the observers will have to search the ground for them them- selves, sometimes by using dogs to f lush them out. The government released a tender for the project back in June 2013. The government confirmed with Mal- taToday that Ecoserv were the only bidders. The study is crucial since its results will determine whether the Euro- pean Commission will allow Malta to legislate a spring hunting season: if results of this study show that on- ly a few turtle doves and quail pass over Malta in autumn – showing that hunters have no alternative but to shoot quarry in the spring – then the government and the hunters' federa- tion, FKNK, will present a case with the European Commission to be al- lowed to derogate from the EU ban on spring hunting for these two bird species. CONTINUES PAGE 4 Café Premier shareholder denies graft claims MATTHEW VELLA A shareholder in Cities Enter- tainment Ltd, the company the government paid €4.2 million to buy back its 65-year-lease on Valletta's Café Premier, has denied allegations of 'commis- sions' having been paid to se- cure the deal. Mario Camilleri, a prop- erty entrepreneur whose company, M&A Investments, was a shareholder in Cities Entertainment, categorically denied that €210,000 paid out to his company from the €4.2 million payment, had been a "commission" for having se- cured the deal with govern- ment consultant John Sciber- ras. Camilleri was said to have agreed the €210,000 as a "commission" for brokering the deal with Sciberras, by his former business partner Neville Curmi during a po- lice investigation into an MP's suggestions that commissions could have been paid to secure the "bailout". The company had been called on to pay over €200,000 in lease payments it owed to the government in December 2012. Cities Entertainment contested the order in court. After Labour's election vic- tory in 2013, Cities Entertain- ment and the Lands Depart- ment dropped court action against each other, and pro- ceeded to negotiate the €4.2 million settlement for the company to rescind the lease, and pay back all outstand- ing state dues and its private debts. PAGE 5