Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/616203
WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION WEDNESDAY • 16 DECEMBER 2015 • ISSUE 447 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY €1.00 Newspaper post Dayfresh Butcher & Steakhouse Naxxar road, Birkirkara Tel: 27887727 Upper Constitution street, Mosta Tel: 27448007 57, Diego street, Hamrun (opp. BOV) Tel: 21237925 Find us on Facebook: DayFresh Meats & Grill Rival Libyan factions come together but reject UN deal PAGE 5 Benefit fraud made easy by lack of checks on claimants Farmer, mother of nine, claimed €8,000 in social assistance a year but failed to disclose €58,000 in property sales MATTHEW VELLA THE National Audit Office has flagged the lack of inspections be- ing carried out by the department of social security, to assess whether beneficiaries of social assistance were genuine claimants of benefits. One of the more serious omis- sions found by the NAO was that requesting taxpayer profiles (TP) was not the current practice during 2014, to assess whether claimants for some €80 million in social as- sistance fulfilled criteria. "NAO testing revealed that TP was being consulted only in cas- es where there was a substantial change in circumstances, or in sit- uations warranting further investi- gation. In such cases, benefits were already being paid to individuals before such assessment was con- ducted." The NAO tested a sample of 44 individuals who were paid a total of €391,878 during 2014. The NAO found that one particu- lar beneficiary of social assistance had only declared that she received financial assistance for her nine children every four weeks and was paying rent every month. During 2014, the claimant re- ceived total non-contributory so- cial assistance payments of €8,845. But upon investigation of this claimant, the NAO noted that the claimant failed to disclose three transfers of property to third par- ties, totalling €58,234. The investigation showed that the beneficiary was involved in two transactions as a buyer, for a total value of €43,093. Following a number of anony- mous reports, the benefit fraud and investigations department conduct- ed an investigation of the claimant's situation and belongings in Febru- ary 2015. In addition to the details that emerged from the claimant's profile, it was also revealed that the residence she was living in was not being rented. The claimant was registered as a farmer from 2006 to 2013 and dur- ing this period, she owned a consid- erable number of livestock. "Upon enquiry with DSS, NAO was informed that the case was currently being assessed by the Department. However, payments to the beneficiary had not been stopped as at the date of writing of this report," the NAO said. A number of transactions were traced in another separate claim- ant's taxpayer profile in relation to purchase of property and dona- tions. It transpired that the ben- eficiary failed to disclose three acquisitions from third parties, amounting to €31,664. The claimant also received an- other property as a donation for the value of €93,175. Furthermore, it transpired that the claimant's wife had also sold a property for €10,482. PAGE 5 Busuttil flags illegality in Sadeen's 'university' application JURGEN BALZAN PN leader Simon Busuttil yesterday tore to shreds the government's ar- guments in favour of transferring ODZ land in Marsascala together with a historical building in Cos- picua to Jordanian construction group Sadeen which was handpicked for the construction of a private uni- versity. "The way this university has been proposed is disgusting. Our ob- jections are three: environmental, educational, and good governance. There are many people out there who are against this university. If there is something the prime minister has managed to do it is to unite these people against him: environmental NGOs, farmers, even hunting asso- ciations, the church's environment commission, the Archbishop him- self, and people from the arts and 150 academics, students, lecturers, and the Chamber of Commerce," Busut- til said in Parliament. Questioning Sadeen's claim that the construction group will be run- ning an international university, the PN leader said "it is illegal for licen- sees in the category 'further educa- tion institution' to call themselves a university." Lambasting the construction group's credentials, Busuttil asked "how can you give a licence for the running of a university to somebody who has never had any experience in running a university? This does not make sense." Busuttil added that the govern- ment's decision to downscale the size of the ODZ land which would be given to Sadeen for 99 years was of "no consolation," insisting "the prime minister should not expect any thanks for ruining less ODZ and virgin land..." "The people out there will be mak- ing their own judgement on the way things are being conducted… and it will be a negative verdict on what you are doing," Busuttil said, attacking the agreement signed behind closed doors to award – originally – 90,000 square metres of public land at Zon- qor to Sadeen. "What kind of decision-making is it that the prime minister awards this kind of land to somebody with- out a public call for tenders, without this person having any experience in education." Concluding his steadfast speech, Buusttil said "money is this govern- ment's god. Everything is for sale: land, people, companies, votes… eve- rything is for sale under this govern- ment. Even Marsaskala's mayor has boasted he is in favour of Sadeen's university because the group will build the new local council premis- es." In his reply, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat categorically refused Busut- til's "scaremongering" and accused him of trying to shed doubt on the educational certification body. While failing to deny Busuttil's claim that Sadeen cannot call their institution a university, Muscat said "the National Commission for Fur- ther and Higher Education is led by a person who is truly super partes." Defending the government's de- cision to award Sadeen the land, Muscat compared the deal with past agreements brokered by previous PN governments. Muscat cited deals such as the Mid- Med Bank sale to HSBC and the Smart City deal with Tecom Invest- ments of Dubai, as examples where there was no scrutiny on such trans- actions. "This project will be a game-chang- er," Muscat insisted.