Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/440087
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 31 DECEMBER 2014 5 Lija Belvedere and Sliema caves saved IT was MaltaToday which in April 2008 revealed that MEPA had ap- proved a four storey tower block to replace an existing two-storey semi- detached in Transfiguration Avenue: just 20 metres away from the village's picturesque belvedere. MaltaToday was the first to raise concern on the controversial permit application in November 2006. The permit was revoked following a public outcry spearheaded by the Lija local council in July 2008. MaltaToday was also the first to reveal the extent of commercial development in the Qui-Si-Sana car park. The car park proposal dates back to 1999 when a draft brief, which initially excluded major commercial development, was presented for public consultation. But a development brief issued in 2002 allocated 7,000 square metres of space for "innovative tourist related/ leisure development". Plans subse- quently published in MaltaToday showed the inclusion of a 24-lane bowling alley, a 120-seat theatre, an exhibition centre, a bar and various other leisure outlets. The project was aborted after the 2008 election to make way for a public garden. Reports exclusively published in MaltaToday in 2007, warning of the imminent danger faced by the Ghar il-Lembi and Ghar id-Dud caves, also contributed to MEPA's decision not to issue a permit for a car park under Ghar id-dud. In 2005 MEPA had recommended the elimination of Ghar il-Lembi to pave the way for the development of a car park in the area between the northern part of the Chalet and the corner to Qui-Si-Sana without harm- ing the other cave, Ghar id-Dud. MEPA justified its decision claim- ing that Ghar il-Lembi had a "very weak" internal stability and could collapse in the "short term" even if no development is allowed in the area. But an internal report conducted by Integrated Resource Manage- ment Ltd published by MaltaToday recognised the site's value as a site of special scientific interest. The report also stated that the whole site, including both caves, can "definitely be considered fragile and in need of protection from man-made interference." April 2008 Brute force A Maltese police sergeant was caught on camera violently kicking a French lady in the upper torso and neck, knocking her senseless for more than three minutes. The grim four-minute video clip was taken from the balcony of an apartment in St George's Road, St Julian's, on Thursday, 17 May in the middle of the afternoon. The footage was subsequently passed on to MaltaToday on strict condition of confidentiality. The video-clip opens abruptly with the close-up of a heated argu- ment between the female driver of a French-registered Nissan, and a somewhat heavily built police sergeant, David Sant, later sentenced to four months' imprisonment, and subsequently suspended for a year on appeal. The video showed the lady, Cath- erine Sprangers, appearing agitated because Sant had planted himself in the way of her shutting her car door. Sant is seen talking on his mobile phone and ignoring her repeated at- tempts to move him out of the way. Investigations later revealed that the lady had attracted police atten- tion by hooting repeatedly at a coach which had blocked the road for several minutes. It also transpired she did not speak English fluently, and insisted on speaking to the policeman in French. However, it is not at all clear from the video why the police sergeant reacted with such brutal force. 6 June, 2007 Migrants' shipwreck tragedy ARMY rescuers were given orders to "keep at a distance" from a boat carrying 200 migrants in gale force winds last November, hours before nine of them drowned and at least 20 went missing in a ship- wreck off the coast of Sicily. Among entries on the official AFM log book registering the orders given from headquarters via radio to rescuers sent to track the boat on that day, the captain of an AFM airplane and the mas- ter of a patrol boat were ordered to "keep at a distance" from the boat people as they were passing through Maltese waters heading north. Kept at the AFM Operations Room at Luqa Headquarters, the log book lists the orders and actions taken on 17 November, 2005 in response to the boat crammed with migrants travel- ling in force 6 winds. Seen by MaltaToday and con- firmed by a senior spokesman of the Prime Minister, the evidence excluded any kind of com- munication with the migrants, contradicting statements made by then Parliamentary Secretary Tony Abela in parliament in the wake of the tragedy alleging that the AFM had approached the migrants to offer assistance and insisting that this was refused. The recording equipment, donated by the American govern- ment and meant to keep track of all radio messages sent to and from AFM Headquarters, had never been used since it was installed. 16 April, 2006 15 Years 2006 2007 2008 Lifting the lid on MEP expenses IN a historic first for a Maltese newspaper, the European Ombuds- man recognised MaltaToday's right to access data detailing the allow- ances received by Malta's MEPs. Ombudsman Paraskavas Diaman- douros called the European Parlia- ment's refusal to grant the newspa- per access "maladministration". Almost two years after submit- ting its complaint, MaltaToday applied once again to the European Parliament to grant it access to the payments – daily allowances, assistants' salaries and travel al- lowances – paid to Malta's five MEPs after it was refused access back in August 2005, but the EP steadfastly refused to submit to the Ombudsman's recommendation that the Parliament reconsiders MaltaToday's application and grant it access after finding the EP had no "appropriate legal basis for reject- ing the complainant's application for access". He said the Parliament's arguments to refuse access were not convincing and unjustified. "This constitutes maladministra- tion," Diamandouros said in his draft recommendation. He said the fact that Parliament failed to even consider granting partial access to documents containing data related to assistants, for example by blank- ing out the assistants' names, also constituted maladministration. 26 September, 2007