Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/631983
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 27 JANUARY 2016 3 News NAO report revealed deep corruption roots at Lands Department – PN MARTINA BORG THE manipulation of Lands De- partment files in the Old Mint Street expropriation scandal "proves the scale of corruption within the department" the Na- tionalist party said yesterday. Opposition MP Ryan Callus (left) said that alterations in the minutes filed by civil servants during the controversial expro- priation, was proof that the gov- ernment was dragging its feet on investigating the case, and buying time for a cover-up of corruption. The Auditor General's audit refers to minutes that were tam- pered with, or renumbered and had dates changed, while others showed discrepancies in refer- ence numbers. Lands parliamentary secre- tary Michael Falzon resigned his position last week, after a damning report by the National Audit Office accused him of not safeguarding the govern- ment's interest in expropriating a 50% stake of a Valletta prop- erty owned by Mark Gaffarena, the son of one-time Nationalist activist Joe Gaffarena. Describing the report as a 'condemnation' of the way the de- partment was o p e r a t i n g , Prime Min- ister Joseph Muscat an- nounced a reform of the department and charged MP Deborah Schembri as the new parliamentary secretary. "If the government was serious about investigating the case, it would have done so months ago, when the media first broke the news of the allegations," said Callus. "Instead, the government waited until after the Inter- nal Investigations depart- ment had finished its report. The police finally raided the Lands Department, long after the case surfaced," he added, pointing out that no- body had been made aware of the internal investigations report. "The police should have d e m a n d e d d o c u m e n t s the mo- ment the al- legations came out," Callus said, say- ing the PM's 'delayed' response to the allegations showed he did not follow the principles of good governance. Mark Anthony Sammut (right) Gudja councillor and PN can- didate, said the scandal had brought the Lands Department to its knees, crippled the na- tion's trust in the government and tarred the department's employees with the same brush. "The Gaffarena scandal is the result of the corruption within the government, and people are now experiencing the side ef- fects of that corruption," Sam- mut said, pointing out that citi- zens were experiencing delays in Lands Department services. He also claimed that employ- ees in the department were being treated "as if they were criminals themselves". Callus hoped that any reform at the Lands Department would not result in persons of trust being installed in place, as had happened in similar reforms such as at the Identity Malta agency. Some progress in employment of disabled persons MIRIAM DALLI THE number of persons with dis- ability in employment during last year amounted to 543, informa- tion tabled in parliament by Edu- cation Minister Evarist Bartolo shows. Although low, the figure is still an improvement when compared to the 309 persons in employment during 2014, the 147 persons in 2013 and the 127 persons in 2011. Yet, over 3,000 employable per- sons with disability remain out of a job. Budgetary measures were imple- mented to encourage companies which employ over 20 people to meet the disability employment quota, which is legally enforced. The chairman of the national disability commission, Oliver Sci- cluna, told MaltaToday that 40% of eligible Maltese private compa- nies are now meeting the quota. The Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) told MaltaTo- day that 342 of the private busi- nesses on the island which employ over 20 people are now meeting the quota. This is a significant in- crease from August, when a mea- gre 13% of eligible businesses met the quota. Employers who fail to abide by this quota this year will be fined €1,200 for every disabled person they should be employing. The annual sanction will double to €2,400 next year and is capped at an annual €10,000 per company. Tax credits of up to €4,500 were also offered to businesses which employ disabled persons, while employers are now entitled to the reimbursement by the govern- ment of 50% of their disabled em- ployees' wages, capped at €5,000.