Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/860911
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 AUGUST 2017 6 News MIRIAM DALLI MALTA is honouring a 2009 agreement signed with Libya in which it would assist the North African country in monitoring its search and rescue region, accord- ing to a letter sent to the Interna- tional Maritime Organisation. But the Maltese government says it is unaware of the letter, which was reported by Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, which claimed that Libya will be calling upon Malta to monitor Tripoli's SAR region. The letter, which according to Il Sole was signed by the presi- dent of the Libyan Ports Author- ity, Omar al Gawashi, also points towards the 2009 bilateral agree- ment to strengthen the base of Libya's statement. Al Gawashi is said to have told the international maritime agen- cy that Libya did not have enough resources to operate its SAR re- gions on its own and would there- fore deploy Malta's help. Tripoli did so because it wants to retain control over its SAR region, de- spite the number of persons traf- ficked from Libya to Europe by sea continuing unabated. "We have not received any for- mal letter from Libya or the Inter- national Maritime Organisation," a spokesperson for the Maltese government said when contacted for a comment. Every month, thousands of ir- regular migrants, asylum seekers and refugees cross from Libya to Italy by sea, in the hope of making their way to Europe. But now Ita- ly is facing a crisis, having decided to start taking in all migrants fol- lowing the 2013 shipwreck trag- edy when over 360 persons were killed. In previously unheard audio, released earlier this year, Italian authorities are shown to have let dozens of refugees drown in the Mediterranean, despite having been around 61 miles away from Lampedusa. The Italian Coast Guard is heard telling the Syrian refugees, who had launched a dis- tress call, that they should be call- ing Malta, which was 118 miles away. Since that incident, Italy agreed to take in all migrants rescued at sea, in an agreement with Malta that remains shrouded in mystery. But Italy is today buckling under the pressure of migrant numbers, and is seeking ways of stopping migrants from leaving Libya. The voyage from across the Mediter- ranean Sea, with Italy as the des- tination, is the main route to Eu- rope for many, with over 95,000 having set sail this year. In Libya, many asylum seekers end up detained, face abuse, ex- tortion and forced labour at the hands of armed groups, criminal gangs and smugglers, according to refugee aid agency Oxfam. Migrants who made it to Italy told Oxfam how they were kept in cells full of dead bodies, forced to call their families to ask for ransom money, and beaten and starved for months on end. Three-quarters of the 160-odd arrivals interviewed by the char- ity saw a fellow migrant tortured or killed, while at least eight in 10 said they suffered 'inhuman or de- grading treatment'. Now, the Italian Cabinet has agreed to send a mission Libya, to try to stem the influx of mi- grants by having Italian forces controlling the border within the North African country's territo- rial waters. JAMES DEBONO THE Planning Authority's execu- tive chairman Johann Buttigieg has confirmed that between 2012 and 2014, no permit was ever issued to superyacht yard operators Palum- bo to export spent grit from sand blasting operations. Buttigieg was taking the witness stand in an appeal by Palumbo against a 2016 enforcement or- der on the dumping of spent grit under a concrete platform at the shipyards, in violation of the law, following a two-year long investi- gation. "It transpired that Palumbo did not have a permit to export grit from the country. So what hap- pened to the grit which was pro- duced in those two years? Obvious- ly it was either laid under concrete or ended up in the sea," Buttigieg told the PA's environmental and planning review tribunal. Buttigieg said that in the period between taking over the yard in 2012 and the inspection carried out by the PA in 2014, Palumbo had no permit to export spent grit from the country and it only applied for such a permit after the PA clamped down on the company. Palumbo's lawyer Mat- thew Brincat interject- ed by asking Buttigieg whether he had any evidence that grit blasting took place in that period and whether PA officials had seen any irregu- larities in more than 70 inspections at the docks. Buttigieg claimed that the alleged depo- sition of waste under the concrete slab took place "approximately six months" after Palumbo took over the shipyards, citing aerial photos taken in 2012 before Palumbo took over the shipyards that confirm that the works took place after the docks were privatised. B u t t i g i e g c o n f i r m e d that the PA was in- formed of this abuse a full three m o n t h s b e f o r e taking ac- tion in September 2014, two years after the alleged illegality took place and after the publication of newspaper reports denouncing the abuse. The enforcement order was issued two years later. Lawyer questions validity of Vella's report During the proceedings Buttigieg referred to a report conducted by Prof. Alfred Vella, then as head of the chemistry department at the University of Malta, which "showed high toxicity" in the sam- ples taken in September 2014. But Palumbo's lawyer challenged Buttigieg, asking him whether the university's laboratory had the necessary "accreditation" required by the PA's own rules. Buttigieg could not confirm whether this was the case or not. In a previous sitting, a PA senior enforcement officer Joseph Ab- ela Medici had revealed that Prof. Vella had presented his report on 23 October, 2014, just a month after the inspection and two years before the issue of the enforcement notice. In this report Vella deter- mined that the sample taken from underneath the platform consisted of used grit and not inert waste. Asked why the enforcement was issued in 2016 and not in 2014, Abela Medici claimed that the rea- son for this was that the PA was still awaiting the results of other reports. When asked who had pre- pared these reports Abela Medici referred to "the son of Alfred Vel- la" – who works in the physics de- partment. But according to the PA official, the results were inconclusive in determining whether the grit was hazardous. The reason for this was that the tests did not conform to the parameters set by the law. A number of PA officials could not recall any suspicious works at the area in question during regular inspections held between 2012 and 2014. The next sitting is due on 19 September. Palumbo had no permit to export grit between 2012 and 2014, PA chief claims Malta 'in the dark' over Libya IMO communication 'Palumbo did not have a permit to export grit. So what happened? Obviously it was either laid under concrete or ended up in the sea' Planning Authority executive chairman Johann Buttigieg