Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/401761
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2014 News 4 Gonzi reiterates denial of being shown 2011 fuel corruption emails MAT THEW VELLA EDUCATION Minister Evarist Bartolo has insisted that allega- tions of corruption linked to fuel procurement by state utilit y En- emalta went ignored by former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi in 2011. Yesterday Gonzi issued a state- ment, categorically denying hav- ing instructed anyone to pass on documents pertaining to oil im- porter George Farrugia and his business, to the Securit y Serv- ice. "Bartolo alleged that some time in 2011 I had in hand some documents related to corruption in fuel procurement and that I passed on these documents to the Securit y Services. I categori- cally declared that this allega- tion is false: it is not true that I passed on any such documents to the MSS or that I gave instruc- tions to anyone to do so," Gonzi said. In a reaction on his Facebook wall, Bartolo said that Gonzi was attempting to twist his parlia- mentary speech. "I said that there was an effort to cover up the cor- ruption in fuel procurement. In 2011, a Securit y Service official passed on documents tied to fuel corruption to Dr Gonzi, who did not want to handle them and told them to take it to the MSS. Instead of being investigated, contact was made made between the MSS and the secretariat of a ministry, and some of these doc- uments were shredded." Gonzi, who is no longer an MP, has reiterated the same after MaltaToday had already asked him the same question during the 2013 election, on 26 Febru- ary, specifically about a member of the Malta Securit y Services who had informed him in the summer of 2011 of the invoices and documents pertaining to oil trader George Farrugia's activi- ties, himself accused by his fam- ily of siphoning some €6 million in commissions on oil imports from family business Powerplan. MaltaToday had specifically asked Gonzi about the MSS member who informed him of Farrugia's activities, and of accu- sations that he had siphoned off his family business's profits to a hidden company, Aikon Ltd, with related invoices. Gonzi report- edly told the officer to report the allegation to the Commissioner of Police, without taking any fur- ther ownership of the matter. Asked about this in an im- promptu question and answer session with the press at the Universit y of Malta, the prime minister did not deny having been informed of the Farrugia invoices: "I have always insisted publicly, that whenever I had any information, I would always refer it directly to the Commissioner of Police, because it is the dut y of all constitutional authorities to take responsibilit y for such investigations, and they have the power that the law gives them to make these investigations. And that's what I did as my dut y was. "Any report, whatever it was or wherever it came from, was passed on to the authorities [to investigate]," Gonzi had said. 'Disabled people worried about banding' – Busuttil PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD PEOPLE with a disability are wor- ried that the new banding system in state schools will exclude them from mainstream education, Oppo- sition leader Simon Busuttil said. The new banding policy means that all state primary schools will group students by month of birth from Kindergarten 1 to Grade 4. In Grades 5 and 6 they will be allocat- ed in separate classes according to their results in English, Maths and Maltese. "Banding isn't the right way to deal with mixed-ability classrooms as it puts inclusive education at risk," Busuttil said. He was addressing members of the National Youth Parliament who met up to discuss education, tourism, transport, and drug law reforms. Busuttil also voiced concern that parts of Air Malta could end up pri- vatised after Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that the airline will be divesting itself of various units. "Our economy and tourism are dependent on Air Malta," Busut- til said. "Air Malta has changed its chairperson three times and the newest chairperson now said that she didn't find a proper manage- ment structure in place when she took over. Now we are hearing that some parts of Air Malta could end up privatised too." Busuttil also criticised the gov- ernment for allowing traffic to worsen, despite its pre-election promise to alleviate it. At the end of September, the stock of licensed motor vehicles rose to 332,455, an increase of 1% over the previous quarter. 79.1% of these vehicles are passenger cars. "It's not as though the traffic situ- ation remained the same. It got worse, and this awakens questions about the government's competen- cy," Busuttil said. "Traffic is not just a perception." Busuttil had previ- ously described the growing traffic congestion as a "cancer factory", in a dig at the Labour Party's pre-elec- tion description of the Delimara power station as such a factory. Busuttil also voiced his concern about delays in the construction of the new Parliament building at the entrance to the capital. "We thought you would hold your meet- ing in the new Parliament building which was supposed to be complet- ed by the end of summer," Busuttil told the National Youth Parliament. "However, we still don't know when parliament is going to move there." The government has fined con- tractors BIB Joint Venture for failing to meet the contractual deadlines for the new Parliament building. The press were not allowed to ask Busuttil questions about the ener- gy sector. The PN are expected to make an official energy-related an- nouncement today. Pet cemetery exempted from EIA Preliminary studies foresee no dangerous emissions from incinerator located in national park opposite flea market JAMES DEBONO NO environment impact assessment will be carried out about the planned incinerator set to burn the carcasses of hundreds of animals in a cemetery to be located opposite a flea market frequented by hundreds of people on Sundays. This is because preliminary studies show that the plant will neither pro- duce any dangerous emissions nor hazardous waste. The justification given is that the cemetery will include an incinera- tion facility, which will operate at a temperature in excess of 1100 de- grees Celsius, thus ensuring com- plete combustion and no emissions of hazardous gases. To avoid firing up the incinerator for each individual cremation, car- casses will be stored in a freezer and burned in sequence. Although "minor heat and energy emissions may occur", these are not deemed to have a significant impact on the environment. These emissions will be of low sig- nificance due to an additional sec- ondary burning process. The 1,800 square metre cemetery is being proposed in the Ta' Qali Na- tional Park on fallow land outside the ring road opposite the large parking area where a flea market operates on Sundays. In close proximity to the site is the St Francis Animal Hospital. The new cemetery will accommo- date the ashes of 17,000 animals. At present 4,000 carcasses are sent an- nually to WasteServ to be disposed of, and an unknown number are bur- ied by owners on their own proper- ties. The animal cemetery was proposed by the Labour Party in its electoral manifesto. But the burial of animals is banned by EU regulations which consider the carcasses of pets as an animal by- product which should be incinerated for health and safety considerations. Therefore the proposed cemetery will consist of rows of walls contain- ing urns holding the ashes. EU law allows member states to derogate from the rules to allow the burial of pets and horses but this must be done at a safe distance to avoid any health risks. This op- tion was not practical in minuscule Malta. www.gourmettoday.recipes Download the MaltaToday App now Then Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Finance Minister Tonio Fenech (left) with George Farrugia (right) PN leader Simon Busuttil