Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/647574
6 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 2 MARCH 2016 News Housing Authority Tenders - 5 Lifts 1. Construction Works, Supply, Installation & Commissioning of 1 Passenger Lift at Block B, Triq Fuq tal-Hawli, Birgu using Environmentally Friendly Paints (Ref. TWO 4/2016). A meeting on site shall be held on 2nd March 2016 at 9.00am. 2. Construction Works, Supply, Installation & Commissioning of 2 Passenger Lifts at Blocks H & M, Qasam Ħal-Tmiem, Żejtun using Environmentally Friendly Paints (Ref. TWO 5/2016). A meeting on site shall be held on 2nd March 2016 at 10.00am. 3. Construction Works, Supply, Installation & Commissioning of 2 Passenger Lifts at Block 5, Doors B & C, Misraћ Lewża, San Gwann using Environmentally Friendly Paints (Ref. TWO 6/2016). A meeting on site shall be held on 3rd March 2016 at 9.00am. O Offers close on 5th April 2016, at 09.30hrs. Tender document is to be viewed/downloaded and submitted ONLY through the e-tenders website on http://www.etenders.gov.mt. Pullicino Orlando's no-show forces PAC suspension Opposition MPs force suspension of Public Accounts Committee after science agency's executive chairperson sends an official in his stead to answer for serious shortcomings detected by audit TIM DIACONO A Public Accounts Commit- tee meeting was suspended yesterday, after Jeffrey Pulli- cino Orlando, executive chair- person of the Malta Council for Science and Technology, failed to turn up for the grill- ing of his own council's public accounts. A National Audit Office in- vestigation on public accounts in 2014 found serious short- comings in the government's science agency – including failure to keep attendance records of its employees and irregularities in fuel allow- ances. Opposition MP George Pul- licino argued that the PAC meeting was originally sup- posed to be held on Monday but was postponed by a day because Pullicino Orlando had been abroad. However, the former Nation- alist MP failed to turn up, and MCST official Mario Borg was sent in his place. Justice minister Owen Bon- nici suggested that the Oppo- sition MPs air the questions they had originally intended to ask Pullicino Orlando to Borg instead, but Pullicino and PAC chairperson Tonio Fenech refused. "I want to air my questions specifically to the executive chairman, and the committee should have been advised be- forehand that he wasn't going to be present," he said, before calling for the meeting to be suspended. In its report, the NAO had warned that an unnamed "high-ranking officer" at the MCST was entitled to 150 li- tres of free fuel per month, but was being paid in €2,484 monthly cash allowances in- stead. Besides the fuel entitlement, this person's financial package also included an annual car allowance of €4,193, which the NAO warned went against general government practices. "The award of a car allow- ance is a comprehensive com- pensation for waiving the en- titlement of a fully expensed car, which also comprises the consumption of fuel, and thus any further related allowance is precluded as it is considered as constituting a double pay- ment of the same benefit," the NAO said. It also criticised the MCST for failing to keep attendance records of its employees, and for failing to provide evidence to substantiate salary deci- sions or to justif y payments to employees. It added that the total compensation for overtime worked in 2014 amounted to €20,157, out of which nearly four-fifths, or €16,084, was paid to just five officials. Opposition MPs issue joint statement in reply to individual questions CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 It was ex- plained that all members of the parliamentary group had signed a declaration confirming that every- thing they owned was declared in their declaration of assets submit- ted in parliament. The declaration was signed last year, at Busuttil's request, following revelations of former ministers holding unde- clared accounts in Switzerland. The declaration reads: "The un- dersigned declares that I don't hold any bank accounts outside the country, that are in my name or in a third party's name, includ- ing a trustee, nominee, foundation and of which I am a beneficiary in my personal capacity, that have not been declared in the declaration of assets presented to the Office of the Speaker." "Thus," Bonett added, "it is evi- dent that the PN MPs do not hold any offshore trusts and assets which have not been declared in parliament." Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando COMTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Instead he chose to ask for an investiga- tion from the Commissioner of Inland Revenue. But it doesn't appear as though Konrad Miz- zi notified the Commissioner, which would mean that he would have broken the law." Konrad Mizzi has admitted owning a Panamanian firm that is owned by Orion Trust, the trustees of his New Zealand trust Rotorua. Mizzi will be clos- ing down the Panama offshore company. However, Fenech argued that Mizzi had been caught out try- ing to twist his words when he said that he will declare his trust during an interview with Malta- Today, but failed to mention that it owns a Panamanian company before such information was leaked by blogger Daphne Caru- ana Galizia. He said that Mizzi's set-up was designed "perfectly" so as to avoid paying tax on any extra in- come in Malta. "His wife and children, and not himself, are the beneficiaries of the trust and they are not Mal- tese or Maltese residents. Any income poured into the trust will be non-taxable in Malta in the eyes of the law. "It is clear that the structure was designed in such a way for Mizzi not to pay tax in Malta on income placed in the Panama- nian company." Moreover, the Opposition MP questioned why Mizzi chose to register the company in Panama in the first place, noting that the country has been blacklisted by the European Commission. "Why hasn't he populated the company with his assets yet? Why did he form a company in Panama in the first place and not simply place his assets di- rectly in the New Zealand trust? Is it possible that Nexia BT [his financial advisors] didn't warn him about the risks associated with Panama?" He also questioned why Mizzi registered his company in Pana- ma ahead of other renowned tax havens such as Jersey and Guern- sey, countries with which Malta had double taxation agreements. "It is clear that he intends to hide something. I feel sorry for the finance minister who is fighting tooth and nail in the EU to maintain Malta's current tax system, and show that we are committed to clamping down on tax evasion and money launder- ing as rigidly as possible." He called on Konrad Mizzi to resign his ministerial position. "He either set up a company in Panama because he was incom- petent and completely unaware of its common association with money laundering, or he set it up for far more sinister reasons that can carry prison sentences." Fenech: Mizzi 'intends to hide something' Tonio Fenech (right) sparring with Konrad Mizzi in a televised debate in 2013