Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/405994
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 29 OCTOBER 2014 News 2 Simon Busuttil calls for 'correct' investigations on PV contract George Pullicino still waiting to be summoned by police as PN leader hopes police chief carries out investigations on alleged corruption in solar power contract 'correctly' JURGEN BALZAN PN leader Simon Busuttil yesterday said he hopes acting Police Com- missioner Ray Zammit would carry out investigations on a €35 million feed-in tariff contract in a correct manner. On Sunday, Busuttil said that if police investigations established that Nationalist MP George Pul- licino was guilty of curruption, he would take immediate action against his MP. Otherwise, the PN leader added, if the police do not find any evidence energy minister Konrad Mizzi, who levelled the allegations of cor- ruption against Pullicino, should resign or be removed by the Prime Minister. Asked whether it was wise to rely on police investigations as the measure of honesty, Busuttil said "I will decide what the measure of honesty is. I want to do politics dif- ferently from Joseph Muscat. I don't want to be a salesman like Muscat, who today is in Singapore selling passports, his fourth such trip in a year. I want to be a statesman who leads the country in a serious way. This can only be done by advocat- ing the truth and honesty and not by sowing the seeds of division." Last week, Mizzi claimed that an audit investigation found irregu- larities in the €35 million contract awarded by the previous National- ist administration. Asked whether he had faith in the police, whom he has in the past ac- cused of succumbing to political interference, Busuttil said "I hope that the police commissioner, who shoulders great responsibilities, carries out his duties correctly as we all expect him to do." Speaking in Mosta, Busuttil said that Muscat was only using the al- legations to deviate attention from his failure to deliver a new power plant in Delimara by March 2015 as promised before the general election. Pointing out that Muscat had promised to resign if the Delimara plant is not completed within two years, Busuttil said that Labour's electoral victory in 2013 was based on a lie. Insisting that the "government is built on a lie" he asked "do you want a Prime Minister you cannot trust?" He said that every time the La- bour government is in difficulty "it resorts to throwing mud at eve- ryone. But I have nothing to fear, because when you are clean there's nothing to fear." The PN leader added that the peo- ple could now see through Labour's tactics and see that it is "dirty." George Pullicino yet to be sum- moned by police Meanwhile, George Pullicino is- sued a statement in which he said that the police have not yet sum- moned him to give his version of events. "Last week I wrote a letter to the Police Commissioner in which I asked him to investigate whether I committed any illegalities," Pul- licino said, adding that to date he has not been called by the police to give his version. He added that the allegations are nothing but an attempt on the gov- ernment's part to deviate attention from its failure to honour its prom- ise to complete the power plant by March 2015. "In its attempt to do so it chose to tarnish my reputation," he said, adding that he had nothing to hide and was ready to cooperate with the police. "I reiterate that I was not involved in the tendering process. If there's a minister who is interfering in the awarding of tenders, then he is cor- rupt," the MP said. Motorsports track proposed in Ahrax quarry JAMES DEBONO AN application presented by the Malta Motorsport Federation dat- ing back to 2011 is proposing turn- ing a disused quarry at Armier pre- viously identified as a relocation site for the nearby illegal boathouses into a track for motorsports. The application has not yet been validated by MEPA, which is still awaiting for submissions requested in a screening letter. A recently completed Project De- velopment Statement presented by the developers had been assessed by MEPA's Environment Protection Directorate which has now decided that an Environment Impact As- sessment should be conducted due to the project's impact on the sur- rounding environment. The area, known as the Barriera ta' l-Ahrax (pictured), was previ- ously identified for the relocation of the nearby illegal beach rooms. 16,000m squared of the site con- sists of a disused quarry and is cur- rently being used for the dumping of seaweed by a government entity and other debris dumped by third parties. The remaining 10,000mmetres of the site consists of pristine land, which is currently used for agricul- tural purposes. The application is the subject of a screening document issued by the Environment Protection Directo- rate. The proposal consists in remodel- ling the site to accommodate spe- cialized branches of motor-sport, which do not require a smooth track. The proposal area borders a number of caravan and camping sites as well as the boathouses in Armier and Little Armier. The draft Marfa Action Plan pre- sented in 2002 promotes the res- toration and after use of the Ta' l- Ahrax Quarry for beach rooms and boat storage purposes. But in the screening document the EPD warns that the motor sport de- velopment will open up the Marfa area for new development commit- ments, other than those foreseen in the Marfa Action Plan. "In this instance, there is the risk that such uses (beach rooms and boat storage) are relocated on pris- tine or undeveloped land within Marfa". The project would also preclude the restoration of the quarry which is described as a "scar in an other- wise rural landscape". The EPD concluded that the pro- posal qualifies for an EIA. "Detailed screening indicated that the proposal is likely to have sig- nificant impacts on the land uptake, the after use of a disused quarry, on surrounding sensitive environmen- tal and protected areas, and may have potentially important consequential implications in terms of constraining future plan- ning of the road junctions". Download the MaltaToday App now Disability Commission launches consultation process to update laws TEODOR RELJIC THE National Commission for Per- sons with Disability (KNPD) will be updating their laws for the first time in 15 years, with a view to ad- dressing relevant issues within the disabled community in Malta. "We found that issues related to the family – such as rights pertain- ing to people with disability who want to start a family – and sexual- ity weren't being seen to in the laws as they are now," KNPD chairman Oliver Scicluna told a news confer- ence. The KNPD aims to update the Equal Opportunities Law – which first came into effect in 2000 – fol- lowing a round of public consulta- tion, which officially commences today (October 28), and will go on until November 28. Two seminars will then take place after public consultation is concluded, whose results will in turn be presented to the public for consultation once again. "I see this development as an adventure – one which aims to strengthen the Commission's bond with its clients," Scicluna said, add- ing that the Commission aims to not just "listen" but to be pro-active in the way it addresses its clients' concerns. To this end, Scicluna said that the Commission is involved in three court cases pertaining to is- sues related to accessibility in cer- tain public sites. Scicluna added that although Malta ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Dis- abilities in 2012, the convention in and of itself does not have any con- crete legal basis in court – another reason he believes the laws should be updated and "strengthened". Asked to specify which 'loopholes' he believed the updated law should address, Scicluna said that "there's nothing currently in the law which deals with disabled people who want to start a family", adding that issues pertaining to the sexuality of disabled people are also currently lacking. Adding that he believes the law should also help disabled people participate actively in public life – "even in politics, for example" – Scicluna also described the law as a tool towards the "mainstreaming" of disabled people. "The law should exist to be used by anybody who needs it in order to live a better life. We don't want to attack anyone with it, but we want to ensure that it's there, and that it's read by as many people as pos- sible." KNPD Chairman Oliver Scicluna