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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 9 DECEMBER 2015 5 News Illegal Montekristo zoo hosted 36 state school visits in five years Montekristo Estate sponsors diary distributed in schools but education ministry says it did not receive any money JURGEN BALZAN THE illegal zoo at the Mon- tekristo estate has hosted 36 state school visits since 2011, the education ministry con- firmed. In reply to MaltaToday's ques- tions, the ministry said that so far this year no outings have been organised at the zoo, which was recently closed down after a child was pawed and badly injured by a tiger. In the 2013/14 scholastic year pupils from 24 state schools vis- ited the zoo, part of a complex described by the Malta Envi- ronment and Planning Author- ity (MEPA) as "Malta's largest illegal development". Last year the number of visits went down to five. In 2011/12 four schools or- gainsed a visit at Montekristo and another three visits took place in the following scholas- tic year. Last month the unlicensed zoo was closed down by the owners, the Polidano group, after a tiger being walked by its keepers grievously injured a three- year-old boy. The ministry also said it has no collaboration with the Montekristo Estate af- ter being asked why a dis- count coupon for children's parties at Montekristo ap- peared in a diary distributed in primary schools. "It is incorrect to state that the Ministry or schools re- ceived any contribution from Montekristo for advertising or any other reason," the min- istry said. The diary, designed and pro- duced by Lion Group Malta, includes an introductory mes- sage by education minister Evarist Bartolo. Confirming that the diary was produced by a third-party private publisher, the ministry said it agreed to allow its dis- tribution on the basis that the content was age-appropriate. The zoo, part of the Mon- tekristo Estates, is sited at the Hal-Farrug grounds of the con- struction group, most of which is riddled with enforce- ment notices issued by the MEPA. Charges had been filed against Charles Polidano, known as Ic- Caqnu, over alleged in- fringements at the zoo, including for breaches of the Animal Welfare Act. In January, home affairs minister Carme- lo Abela said the police would be taking steps against Polid- ano over infringements at the zoo in Montekristo. A few months after coming into office, Joseph Muscat's gov- ernment made a huge show of force when it sent bulldozers, armed police and the army to pull down illegalities at Hal- Farrug, but the show of force proved to be nothing but a farce, as the enforcement action was stopped by a court prohibi- tory injunction. In July, MEPA was prevented from stop- ping a trade fair from taking place on Polid- ano's illegal premises. Despite the author- ity's refusal to grant a permit, the fair went ahead as planned and was presided by the President of the Re- public. coming into office, Joseph Muscat's gov- ernment made a huge show of force when it sent bulldozers, armed police and the army to pull down illegalities at Hal- Farrug, but the show of force proved to be nothing but a farce, as the enforcement action was stopped by a court prohibi- tory injunction. prevented from stop- ping a trade fair from taking place on Polid- ano's illegal premises. Despite the author- ity's refusal to grant a permit, the fair went ahead as planned and was presided by the President of the Re- public. "It is incorrect to state that the Ministry or schools re- ceived any contribution from Montekristo for advertising or any other reason," the min- The diary, designed and pro- duced by Lion Group Malta, includes an introductory mes- Robust growth for economy, but manufacturing lags behind DATA published by the National Statistics Office shows that the economy has experienced another quarter of positive growth, but the Opposition has flagged yet another drop in the contribution of manu- facturing towards GDP growth. "These conflicting trends show how the Maltese economy in gen- eral is growing at a positive rate, but not all sectors of the economy are growing at the same rate, to the extent that the contribution of the manufacturing sector is actually shrinking," shadow minister for fi- nance Mario de Marco said. Official figures show that in the third quarter of 2015, the Maltese economy continued to register ro- bust growth, with a GDP expansion of 5.4 per cent in real terms and 8.0 per cent in nominal terms. The rate is the highest rate in the Eurozone, surpassing its average of 1.6 per cent. "More importantly, official fig- ures show that economic growth was broad based," finance minister Edward Scicluna has said. "Indeed, during the first three quarters, particularly strong in- creases were registered in the pro- fessional, scientific and technical sector and administration and sup- port activities (17.5 per cent) and the financial and insurance sector (11.7 per cent). Other notable pri- vate sector increases were also re- corded in real estate activities and wholesale and retail trade and ac- commodation and food service ac- tivities. The very strong growth in the service sectors more than com- pensated for the marginal decline in the manufacturing sector." But de Marco said the government was ignoring the fact that average wages in the manufacturing and construction sectors had declined over the past two years, apart from the fact that 300 persons are going to be made redundant at De La Rue and that the number of people liv- ing in poverty or at risk of poverty has risen in the past two years. "Our pensioners, who are in- creasingly finding it more difficult to cope with the cost of living, the thousands of families who earn a living in the construction and manufacturing industries and who are seeing a drop in earnings, and the families of those who are about to lose their job, are probably finding it difficult to relate to the triumphalist tone of the govern- ment's press release heralding eco- nomic growth," de Marco said. The increase in real GDP was underpinned by a considerable in- crease in investment which went up by 21.5 per cent during the first nine months of 2015 and consumer expenditure increasing by around 4.6 per cent. "This remarkable growth in in- vestment is in line with govern- ment policy to reform pivotal sec- tors of our economy and to actively encourage the development of new growth sectors. Both will provide the foundation of further growth in the years to come. Exports of goods and services also increased by 2.5 per cent in the first three quarters of 2015," Scicluna said. Growth in government expendi- ture during the first nine months was contained at 1.8 per cent while in the third quarter of this year, government expenditure declined by 5.4 per cent in real terms when compared with the same period of 2014. "The benefits of this economic growth were not limited to invest- ment and exports but were trans- mitted to firms and employees. Indeed, it is encouraging to note that profits, during the first three quarters of this year, increased by 11.5 per cent or €300.9 million while salaries in the form of com- pensation of employees increased by 4.7 per cent or €124.6 million," Scicluna added. De Marco said the positive out- come of these results should be aimed at reducing the price of pet- rol and diesel and bring them in line with the European Union av- erages, more so now that the inter- national price of oil has gone down below the $40 per barrel mark. "Such a move will benefit private consumers by improving their purchasing power. It will also help improve the competitiveness of our industries. The government should also follow the advice of the Governor of the Central Bank and use these 'positive times' to build financial buffers, which would help the country in times with slower economic growth," de Marco add- ed. GRECO slams 'incoherent' law CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 But GRECO said there was no evi- dence that the €50 rule had been extended to independent candi- dates, whereas confidential do- nations below €500 could still be received and there was no obligation for them to be either recorded or the identity of their donors revealed to the Commis- sion. "Also, it is only in respect of donations above €500 that a party or candidate is to carry out due diligence. Consequently, the positive effects of a prohibi- tion on political parties accept- ing anonymous donations are impaired by the absence of an obligation on parties to register donations below €500. "GRECO takes the view that the regime introduced by the FPPA remains incoherent and may be interpreted as condon- ing the acceptance of donations from donors whose identity is not known to a political party or an independent candidate precisely due to the absence of a requirement to register the do- nations." Malta did register progress in introducing a framework for political parties to keep full and transparent books and accounts, so that they can disclose at any time and with reasonable accu- racy the financial position of a party, including income sources, expenses, assets and liabilities. GRECO was also satisfied that the FPPA requires the Elector- al Commission to publish on its website the parties' annual statements, but said it was im- portant that all parties follow a common end-of-year date for their financial statements; and that the time limit for the pub- lication of annual statements be reduced from the generous five months from the end of the fi- nancial year. GRECO also said that it re- mains concerned that in certain cases, a clear link between an obligation to respect funding rules, and a sanction may still be missing. The financing rules also only empower political parties and other interested persons – but not independent candidates – to contest in a court of law the finding of any FPPA breach by the Electoral Commission. "The adoption of the FPPA is commendable. It constitutes an important milestone by intro- ducing a regulatory framework which brings greater transpar- ency in the sphere of political funding in Malta… GRECO urg- es the authorities to eliminate the remaining gaps, and help secure a higher level of public trust in the political institutions and political parties of Malta." YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY www.maltatoday.com.mt