The planning authority is investigating the erasure of hundreds of enforcement orders from its server as an extensive audit seeks to identify loopholes in the system. The Parliamentary Secretary for Planning, Michael Farrugia, said an internal investigation was looking into when the enforcement orders records were erased and who erased them.

He said he was tipped off about the erasure of the files – believed to amount to more than 1,200 – several weeks ago.

“I immediately informed the police and there is an ongoing investigation.

“Certain decisions had to be taken with that information in hand,” he said.

Privileges to Mepa employees with access to such files were immediately restricted and now only two staff members had the authority to erase them, Dr Farrugia said.

When asked whether only employees within the enforcement office had been able to erase such files, Dr Farrugia replied it was not the case.

The audit exercise was aimed at identifying any loopholes and defects.

Once this was complete, work would start on creating a foolproof system with the correct checks and balances, Dr Farrugia said.

Before its implementation, the new revamped system would be tested through an external audit to ensure that it was fail-safe, he added.

Dr Farrugia said the erased notices referred to various buildings. The authorities would also try to establish whether the previous administration was aware of the loopholes in the system and did nothing about them, he said.