Call for misuse of public money to be made a crime

The Labour Party's spokesman for education, Carmelo Abela yesterday challenged the government to make violation of government financial regulations a crime.

Following a magisterial inquiry requested by the opposition with regard to the workings of the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools, Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera had said money given by the government to bodies such, as the foundation were the people's money, and therefore their misuse should be considered a crime.

Speaking in Rabat, Mr Abela said the government should prove it was in favour of transparency and propose amendments to the law which Labour was ready to support.

Mr Abela said the government had taken two months to publish the results of the FTS inquiry.

In a similar case, the Justice and Home Affairs Minister "hastily" published the inquiry on the government's controversial decision to repatriate Eritreans, which in the end cleared the government, Mr Abela said.

The magisterial inquiry into the operations of the FTS had found violations of public sector procurement regulations but these did not constitute a crime in terms of the law.