Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/434696
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2014 News 4 MIRIAM DALLI NO report was filed with the po- lice at the Hamrun police station over an alleged traffic incident involving parliamentary secre- tary for the economic growth Jose Herrera. By the time this report went to print at midnight, MaltaToday could not confirm reports that the junior minister was involved in a hit-and-run incident after an official from Herrera's par- liamentary secretariat failed to get back with a statement on the incident. Meanwhile, MaltaToday estab- lished that no official report was yesterday filed at the Hamrun police station over the alleged traffic incident. Yesterday evening, the media of the Nationalist Party claimed that Herrera reversed onto a car in Hamrun and drove off. The PN media said the incident hap- pened at around 7pm while Her- rera was reversing in a parking space and, allegedly, hit a Peu- geot. It also reported that "a number of persons close to Herrera" went to his house in Lija to inspect the parliamentary secretary's car. Reportedly, these individuals then drove away in Herrera's car. Notice of meeting to be held in public e Malta Environment & Planning Authority will meet on ursday 18 th December 2014 at 14:00 hours at the MEPA boardroom, St. Francis Ravelin, Floriana, to discuss the following: DETERMINATION OF DEVELOPMENT CONTROL APPLICATIONS: PA 2789/04: Site at, Tower Road c/w, Triq Ghar il-Lembi, Sliema. Retaining and restoring of existing facade, including the sanctioning of the internal demolition of the building. construction of apartment block with oces at ground and rst oor, and commercial outlets (Class 4/5) at the lower level and extending below the new garden, as well as a Class 6 outlet in the garden designated for public use. e development is to include two levels of underlying basement garages. PA 3228/14: Site at, Spinola Park, Triq Mikielang Borg, Triq Lapsi, San Giljan. Internal alterations to approved PA 2258/13 and extension to parking oors. PA 1084/14: Site at, Hotel Bernard Triq Santu Wistin c/w Triq Santa Rita c/w Triq San Gorg, San Giljan. To sanction excavation of level -1, extension over part of hotel and internal alterations, and proposed alterations from level -1 to level 3. PA 3511/14: Site at, Bohemia & Midnight Cowboy, St. Rita Steps c/w Triq San Gorg, San Giljan. Proposed integration of residential units (PA/5575/07) and leisure centre (PA/00912/06) to form three star hotel, construction of four additional oors, and transferring two basement levels to third parties. PA 3510/14: site at, Hotel Bernard, Triq Santu Wistin c/w Triq Santa Rita c/w Triq San Gorg, San Giljan. Internal and External Alterations to previously approved Hotel. Demolition and Reconstruction of adjacent property to be also joined to form one hotel, and addition of two oors over the entire development as per recently announced hotel policy. Subject to the maximum seating capacity, seats can be reserved on request for the applicant and registered objectors. Remaining seating is lled on a rst come rst served basis. RESERVATIONS: 2290 2018 12 th December, 2014 www.mepa.org.mt 'No guarantee' that clinic didn't overcharge for medicines CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Since the au- ditors could not trace the evaluation report confirming the selection of the winning bidder, they could not establish whether the government had taken the cost of medicines and other treatment into consideration. To make matters worse, the audi- tors could not find any mechanism to verif y that all the medicines listed by the clinic in their invoices to the government had actually been used to medicate sick animals. Although their medicine invoices included details of the animal treatment, the auditors could not find any proof that such treatment actually took place. When the auditors managed to retrieve a copy of an undated medi- cine price list, they found that the prices on that list did not tally with the prices on the sampled invoices. "It could not be established whether payment of invoices to the clinic were fair and correct," the au- dit report said. "In the absence of internal controls that validate the treatment, medicines, and other consumables used for the respective animals, there is no guarantee that overcharging is not occurring." At the time of writing, George Pullicino could not be reached for comment. This report is not the first to out- line irregularities in agencies which previously fell under George Pul- licino ministry's responsibility. In 2012, the Auditor General raised several points of concern with re- gard to government's waste agency Wasteserv Malta. An audit of capital and recurrent expenditure incurred by Wasteserv Malta Ltd revealed "long delays and substantial cost variations on capi- tal projects". The Auditor General said that lack of transparency and non-compli- ance with procurement regulations were also noted, especially regard- ing sub-contracted labour. He also highlighted the inadequacy of the overall internal controls as a major concern. No reports filed on alleged traffic incident involving junior minister Three women testify in Fr Charles Fenech's case MATTHEW AGIUS CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Domini- can friar Charles Fenech, 54, from Rabat, appeared in the dock before Magistrate Tonio Micallef Trigona yesterday, charged with sexually abusing a woman in her 40s. Fenech's lawyer, Michael Sciriha, requested that the case be heard be- hind closed doors, "as this was the practice in such cases", however the magistrate appeared unimpressed by this argument, saying that he "does not care what happened in similar cases, there is no established practice". Inspector Louise Calleja, leading the prosecution, said they would like the victim to testify behind closed doors and the court agreed to this. Contrary to what the media were led to believe, all of yesterday's wit- nesses: the alleged victim, a psychia- trist, two other women corroborat- ing the woman's testimony and a man testified behind closed doors. Fr Fenech had missed his previous three sittings over the abuse charg- es, citing poor health. He is facing charges of violent sexual abuse against a mentally un- stable patient, holding the woman against her will and committing in- decent acts in public. The case was brought before the Church's Response Team when Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Mer- cieca was at the helm of the Mal- tese archdiocese, with internal in- vestigations continuing after Mgr Pawl Cremona, who like Fenech is a Dominican friar, was appointed Archbishop in 2007. Archbishop Cremona resigned earlier this year, citing ill health. One of Fenech's alleged victims, who spoke to MaltaToday, had said that though the Church had known about the allegations for years, Fenech had never been removed from his position as director of the Kerygma Movement. On the con- trary, she said, the Dominican pro- vincial had been awarded the Gieħ ir-Repubblika medal and was admit- ted to the National Order of Merit in 2001. Fenech was removed from his post in the Kerygma Movement and prohibited from administering the sacraments after the story broke, last October. The courts had previously heard one victim testify that Fenech "tar- geted vulnerable women" and that she knew of at least 15 other women who claim to have fallen to Fenech's advances. Fr Fenech, who has been a Domini- can priest for the last 28 years, spent most of his priesthood surrounded by young people who flocked to the numerous spiritual, cultural, educa- tional and sports events organised by the Kerygma Movement which he founded in 1984. The women had reported the case to the Curia 10 years ago and were asked to appear in front of a Re- sponse Team led by Fr Mario Grech, who later became Bishop of Gozo. During these interviews, despite a clear attempt by the Curia Response Team to discredit the allegations, the women had provided the names of up to 15 girls who claimed to have been sexually abused by Fenech. The case will continue on 23 Feb- ruary. Centru San Frangisk – whiff of irregularities José Herrera