Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/827430
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 24 MAY 2017 News 8 George Pullicino accused of lying to Public Accounts Committee during BWSC hearing YANNICK PACE LABOUR Party candidate, and former Nationalist back- bencher Jeffrey Pullicino Or- lando has said that PN can- didate and former minister George Pullicino should be forced to withdraw his can- didacy since it had been re- vealed that he had 'blatantly lied' to the Public Accounts Committee, and the parlia- mentary group of the time, over changes made to the En- vironment Protection Act in January 2008. Last Sunday, Labour Party newspaper Kullhadd pub- lished a report where it was claimed that on 4 January, 2008, a legal notice was pub- lished by then Resources and Rural Affairs minister George Pullicino that effec- tively relaxed emissions lim- its. The report contained a scanned copy of two letters: one sent by the CEO of BWSC to Pullicino asking him to re- vise Maltese limits, and a sec- ond one in which Enemalta had advised Pullicino not to agree to a reduction in limits. Pullicino Orlando said that after the story was published, he had spoken with others who were part of the PN par- liamentary group, and was better able to make sense of the fact that the legal notice was published on 4 January, quite an unusual time given that it fell during the Christ- mas holidays. "Without the legal notice, BWSC's application wouldn't even have been considered," said Pullicino Orlando – the application referred to the tender to build the Delima- ra power station, intended originally to be gas fired, but which instead operated on the heavily polluting heavy fuel oil. "When we asked, during a meeting of the parliamentary group, why we had chosen to lower standards rather than increase them… George Pul- licino said that it had noth- ing to do with [BWSC], that it was a coincidence and that the legal notice was published to bring Malta's limits in line with the rest of Europe." Moreover, he said that one of the people he had spoken to, who also happened to be a cabinet member at the time, told him that cabinet had not been informed that the legal notice was going to be put forward, as was common practice. "The legal notice was pre- sented on the fourth of Janu- ary without cabinet's knowl- edge," he said. "The reason is manifestly clear and wasn't the one given by George Pul- licino... It was clearly done so that BWSC could win the tender." To add insult to injury, added Pullicino Orlando, the PN's reaction to the story was that the matter had been discussed in the Public Ac- counts Committee which, it said had found nothing wrong. "One of the most relevant testimonies was that of Martin Kok Jensen who was asked by Austin Gatt wheth- er he had contacted anyone from Malta in relation to the tendering process," he said, adding that Jensen had re- plied that BWSC had never approached anyone in Malta. He added that Pullicino had been informed that if BWSC's recommendations were ad- hered to, it would result in limits that were only accept- able in African countries. "The smoke was there, but now there is also fire," he said. "The auditor general did not have these documents in hand when he was carrying out his investigation. Pullicino Orlando said the act was a clear act of corrup- tion and challenged Pullicino to sue him for libel. "I am prepared to ask all the MPs in the PN's parliamen- tary group at the time to tes- tify," he added. Finally, he said that he was surprised that PN leader Si- mon Busuttil was still choos- ing the defend the BWSC plant, and added that the Labour Party had received information showing that Busuttil himself had made direct contact with a "main protagonist in the story". "I will give Simon Busuttil the opportunity to explain the situation before we con- tinue to release all the infor- mation we have," he said. Health minister Chris Fearne explained that there were a number of studies carried out in Malta that had shown a correlation between respiratory conditions and air pollution, and that studies had also shown that people living close to the power sta- tion had a bigger incidence of lung cancer. He insisted that Pullicino and Kok Jensen had lied to the Public Accounts Com- mittee in 2011 since there was clear evidence that George Pullicino had ignored technical recommendations by Enemalta, following a re- quest by BWSC. He said the story shows that despite the PN acting as though it was the "paladin of the environment" it had taken actions that resulted in damage being done to the health of people living in the south of Malta. George Pullicino, accused of lying to the Public Accounts Committee Busuttil pledges free chemotherapy, claims Muscat 'could privatise' Mater Dei TIM DIACONO A Nationalist government will make chemotherapy free for all cancer patients no matter the cost, PN leader Si- mon Busuttil pledged. Launching the PN's health proposals at a press confer- ence outside Mater Dei, Bu- suttil warned that it is undig- nif ying on cancer patients to beg for money for their treat- ment from the Malta Com- munity Chest Fund. "Cancer patients pay taxes and they shouldn't have to worry about whether to sell their property to fund their treatment," he said. "Every cancer patient deserves free treatment, and if there isn't enough money then we'll postpone works on other pro- jects to fund their treatment if needs be." Busuttil reiterated his pledge to re-nationalise the Gozo General Hospital, even if Vitals threatens to pull out of their investments at the St Luke's and Karen Grech hos- pitals. "It's a point of principle for us. Gozitans are furious that Muscat has sold off their only hospital behind their backs, and rightly so." He criticised Muscat's re- cent warning that the Gozo Hospital's operations will no longer be viable if the govern- ment nationalises it. "That comment betrayed Muscat's viewpoint, which is anything but socialist," he said. "He's essentially admit- ting that he will privatise Mater Dei if its operations aren't viable. Public services by definition provide a pub- lic service and should not be judged according to their vi- ability and profit. "Muscat can no longer promise not to privatise Ma- ter Dei, and if he does then he cannot be believed." Elsewhere, the PN promised to slash Malta's obesity rate to the EU average by 2027, with annual targets set every year. "Malta has an obesity aca- demic and a PN government will launch a national pro- gramme to counter it," he said. "Health must be made a way of life." It will also build an acute mental health hospital near Mater Dei, provide free insu- lin sticks to type two diabe- tes patients, increase the food vouchers for coeliac people from €50 to €150, and open a one-stop-clinic for ME, fi- bromyalgia and chronic pain syndrome sufferers. It will also expand and beautif y the Addolorata cem- etery and other cemeteries, build new health centres in the north and centre of Malta and offer tax breaks for peo- ple and companies who take out private healthcare insur- ance. 'No need for embryo freezing' Questioned by the press, Busuttil reiterated his oppo- sition against Joseph Mus- cat's call for embryo freezing, arguing that there is no need to update the country's IVF laws. "The current IVF law has been in place since 2012, when it passed in Parliament unanimously, which means that Muscat and [civil liber- ties minister] Helena Dalli had voted in favour of it," he said. "It has worked so well for us that our IVF birth rate is comparable to those of other countries that have al- lowed embryo freezing. Why do we need to introduce em- bryo freezing, with all its eth- ical pitfalls, when the current law is already providing good results?" "Gozitans are furious that Muscat has sold off their only hospital behind their backs"