Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/770367
MATTHEW VELLA THE billing company that pro- cesses payments for Malta's en- ergy and water services providers, has to show MaltaToday the out- standing duties that the Labour and Nationalist Parties have with ARMS (Automated Revenue Man- agement Services). The company is jointly owned by energy provider Enemalta and the Water Services Corporation. The decision comes from the Information and Data Protection Appeals Tribunal, three years after MaltaToday filed an appeal against a decision by the Information and Data Protection Commissioner. In 2013, MaltaToday filed a Free- dom of Information request so that ARMS would reveal how much it is owed in outstanding electricity and water bills by the two parties or their holding companies. MaltaToday insisted that unlike regular consumers, the two parties contested democratic elections and ultimately selected who would be minister responsible for energy affairs. As such, this could allow them to negotiate better terms of repayment of their bills. MaltaToday had told ARMS and the IDPC that consumers are at a disadvantage to political parties, which cannot be considered "nor- mal clients" as ARMS insists they are. "We argued with ARMS, and the IDPC, that political parties field for election the very people who might end up being energy minister, or Enemalta chairman, or WSC chairman, even chief ex- ecutive. The incestuous relation- ship between party and state in Malta is symbolised by the fact that ARMS has granted political parties extremely generous terms of credit on their pending energy bills," MaltaToday had said. ARMS refused the request, ap- plying an Article 5 exemption that ARMS was a commercial company owned by the government. After ARMS turned down the request, the IDPC agreed, saying that the information was preclud- ed from being revealed because the documents were "held by a commercial partnership in which the public authority has a control- ling interest, in so far as the docu- ments related to the commercial activities of the commercial part- nership." MaltaToday appealed the refusal, saying the IDPC had not carried out an appropriate public interest test on whether disclosing the in- formation would be of more ben- efit to the public, than were it to be kept secret. ARMS told the Appeals Tribu- nal, chaired by lawyer Anna Mal- lia, that it was bound by confiden- tiality and that political parties were clients just like any other consumer. In its decision, the IDPC appeals tribunal agreed with MaltaToday that the documents requested were not exempt from the Free- dom of Information Act since the documents requested did not per- tain to the commercial activities of ARMS's operations. Additionally, the Appeals Tribu- nal said that the FOIA's definition of public authority did not apply to corporations, but to ministries, de- partments and agencies in which the government had a controlling stake. The Appeals Tribunal said that in terms of the FOIA's own defi- nition of public authority, ARMS Limited could not be considered a public authority. "Additionally, the information requested does not concern docu- ments related to ARMS's commer- cial operations, but with its own clients, which are holding compa- nies of the political parties." In her decision, Anna Mallia overturned the IDPC's decision, and ordered ARMS to furnish MaltaToday with its requested documents. The 15 December decision has to yet to be acceded to by ARMS. In 2014, MaltaToday reported that it had information that the Nationalist and Labour parties had outstanding bills of a com- bined €2.5 million, with €1.9 mil- lion owed by the PN. MaltaToday believes that politi- cal parties have for years enjoyed protracted terms of payment, by being accorded repayment pro- grammes that common taxpayers are not granted, and other sorts of benefits by the state-owned utility companies. ARMS was until recently headed by chief executive Carmen Ci- antar, a Labour activist who was publicly visible during electoral rallies as part of the selected audi- ence seated behind Joseph Muscat. Even Enemalta's new chief ex- ecutive, Frederick Azzopardi, was elected for Labour on the Mdina local council; while former chair- man Charles Mangion was later elected to the House at a casual election. While political parties retain an influential hold on publicly-owned corporations, various clients who defaulted on their dues have been presented with judicial letters to pay up within a stipulated time, or have their services disconnected. 11 News maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 JANUARY 2017 ARMS must show MaltaToday bills paid by PL and PN Maltese homes not built to weather cold winter YANNICK PACE A more holistic approach was required to ensure that buildings reach acceptable lev- els of energy efficiency, particularly during the winter months, the president of the Malta Developers Association (MDA) told MaltaToday. Sandro Chetcuti said that while the meas- ures introduced by the government in this regard were a step in the right direction, more holistic incentives – such as the op- position's proposal to reduce capital gains tax for developers who construct "near-ze- ro energy" buildings – were called for. The relevance of energy-efficient homes became apparent during these past days as temperatures reached lows of 4ºC, lead- ing the health ministry to issue two pub- lic warnings to remind people – especially the elderly – to keep themselves and their homes as warm as possible. The vast majority of residential buildings in Malta have been built with the long, hot summer in mind, rather than the short and mostly mild winter. As a result, they are poorly insulated and, in many cases, diffi- cult to keep warm. "Most energy efficiency measures cur- rently employed today in Maltese dwell- ings, such as solar films on glazing and so on, are in fact measures aimed at predomi- nantly keeping heat out of a building, rath- er than the other way around," said Simon Paul Borg, a lecturer in environmental de- sign at the University of Malta's Faculty for the Built Environment. Borg said that in the past, dwellings were built according to the building industry know-how of the time, with legal standards having been introduced only in 2006. At present, some professional developers are insulating roofs and walls, and in some cases, even floors, however this is not the standard, according to Chetcuti. "There are minimum energy performance standards and the required level can be achieved just by installing solar panels," said Chetcuti. "I don't agree with this ap- proach as I think energy efficiency should be incorporated in the way we build. Pre- vention is better than cure, and in this case energy efficient design is the prevention." Asked whether standards were improv- ing, Chetcuti confirmed they were… in some cases. "The vast majority of medium- and high- end development is being built in this way, but people building affordable housing give little consideration to energy efficiency." The EU has set a 20% energy savings tar- get by 2020 for all member states to adhere to. This leaves the government three years to reach the desired level and Chetcuti in- sisted that in addition to fiscal incentives, a change in culture was also necessary. "People have gotten used to asking about the rating of a fridge or freezer, but there is no certificate for buildings, and people do not yet feel that efficiency is a priority," he said. Dog shot in the head, tortured and abused MIRIAM DALLI THE Association for Abandoned Ani- mals has released heart-wrenching photos of a dog which has suffered un- imaginable abuse and torture. Horace, as the dog has been named by the AAA, was found roaming the streets with a burst eye and covered in blood, refusing to allow any human be- ing to touch him. The AAA said it took them four hours to manage to catch him, because of his "terrible fear" of people. The AAA said Horace's face was caked in blood, his ear had been cut using scissors or some other kind of implement and his injured tail was bleeding profusely. The dog was given painkillers and antibiotics and the Happy Paws Clinic stepped in to operate. The ear and tail were cut to stop any infection from spreading. Horace was yesterday taken to the vet for his operation, only for the rescuers to uncover a new horrible truth: the dog had been shot in the head as an X- ray revealed multiple lead pellets. "Today he was taken to the vet for his operation and while the vet started to remove the burst eye, she found lead pellets in his skin and bones. An X-ray confirmed that the dog had been shot as well and the lead pellets are all over his head," the AAA said. "The vet tried to remove as much lead as possible but some pellets are going to be impossible to remove even in any future surgeries." Expressing frustration at the extent of animal cruelty which the dog had suffered, AAA went on to express their thanks to Happy Paws and the vet. The public can support Horace and all the other animals which AAA rescues by sending an SMS to: 50617350 for €2.33, 50618060 for €4.66, 50618910 for €6.99 and 50619200 for €11.66. "Most energy efficiency measures currently employed today in Maltese dwellings, are aimed at predominantly keeping heat out of a building, rather than the other way around"