Nationalist MP Beppe Fenech Adami on Tuesday resisted calls from government MPs to resign from his role as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee following the revelation of emails sent to WasteServ officials by Nationalist MPs including himself prior to the 2013 election with recommendations for the employment of people.

The calls were made as the PAC was about to discuss the engagement of people by Wasteserv prior to the last elections. 

Expressing disappointment that Dr Fenech Adami had not “had the decency” to bring up the issue himself, Labour MP Robert Abela described the emails as evidence of attempts to interfere in the WasteServ recruitment process by Dr Fenech Adami, Opposition MP Claudio Grech, the then-member of the WasteServ Board Marthese Portelli, the Office of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, and the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs, which was then led by Minister George Pullicino.

In the light of the fact that he himself would have to testify before the Public Accounts Committee, Dr Abela said it made no sense for Dr Fenech Adami to chair a committee which would eventually be hearing his own testimony.

Dr Abela also condemned Dr Fenech Adami for “intimidating” the witness who had been summoned to give his deposition, WasteServ CEO Tonio Montebello, by alleging that he was somehow responsible for the leak of the e-mails.

Dr Fenech Adami quickly denied making this accusation, although he reserved the right to question the identity of the individual responsible for custody of WasteServ data.

When it was requested that the emails in question be logged in the PAC’s records, Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi alleged that the government had itself passed the emails in question to MaltaToday. He suggested that emails from Labour MPs to the then-Minister Pullicino should also be tables, citing, “the ones which you didn’t pass on to MaltaToday.”

Government MP Rosianne Cutajar objected strongly to this allegation, and questioned whether the Opposition was against the media doing its job.

Government MP Alex Muscat also questioned whether Opposition Leader Adrian Delia was happy with Dr Fenech Adami remaining in place in the circumstances.  Dr Fenech Adami said that Dr Delia was free to remove him if he was not happy with him, but that, so far, it seemed as though this was not the case.

He took issue with the Government’s call for him to resign over the Nationalist Party’s employment of 10 individuals with WasteServ before the 2013 elections, saying that the PAC was currently investigating the employment of over 240 unnecessary individuals with that company prior to the election held last year immediately following the incineration of the WasteServ plant in Marsascala, when they were certainly not needed.

“I will take no lessons or advice from Joseph Muscat or from those who represent him,” he said.

Furthermore, he said, the individual whom he had recommended had ultimately not been considered for the post in question by Wasteserv..

Opposition MP Claudio Grech said that he had published a reply to accusations made in his regard on his Facebook page. He clarified that he had only communicated with WasteServ to protect the interests of an aggrieved individual who, after working for the company for eight years, was still employed under precarious conditions. The employee was still working under the same conditions to date, several years later.

Responding to questions by the Government MPs, Mr Montebello said that WasteServ had tripled its operations since the 2013 election, and that the staff intake which had occurred in 2017 had been in accordance with a recruitment policy which had been in place since the previous year.

Furthermore, the nature of the work carried out by the corporation led to a high turnover of staff who were not prepared for the tasks they would be assigned; WasteServ was always short-staffed. 

Mr Montebello also explained the company's employment and HR policies. “We all know what sort of country Malta is,” he said, and it was commonplace for disgruntled employees to call the ministry to complain about issues which they felt to be unjust. However, when questioned whether he had ever felt “persistence” on the part of the Office of the Prime Minister or on the part of his minister’s staff, in reference to an email sent by Ms Portelli to then-CEO Vincent Magri which complained of such persistence, he denied experiencing anything of the sort.

Although his minister had suggested a candidate for the post of  Chief Financial Officer, this was a suggestion which he had ultimately not taken up; the minister had “recognised that it was my prerogative,” he said.

Asked to comment on the correspondence which was the de facto subject of the session’s discussion, he said that employees at WasteServ were usually employed by a private contractor - JF - and that, if his HR Manager were ever caught liaising directly with the Ministry’s Chief of Staff on issues of recruitment, as had been revealed in the leaked emails, he would have her fired.