Delia’s peace of mind

The originator of the myth “€400 million have been stolen and they have given nothing back” is former Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia.

While replying to a journalist’s question as to whether he feels comfortable representing a company that wants to be given the contract for the mega ‘waste to energy’ project, when its tender was €200 million more than that of the company that won the tender, he replied: “Yes, I am comfortable since I am giving my (legal) services to the company.”

Cracks had appeared in the ceiling of the hospital car park way back in 2015. Photo: Times of Malta

One must keep in mind that Delia had, for 10 years, also given a legal service to the company that was given the contract for the building of Mater Dei Hospital – Skanska.

The company was given a ‘waiver’ clause in the contract, thus freeing it from any legal responsibility for any future defects. Weak concrete “fit for pavements” was found in various parts. After finding it could not sue Skanska for the defective concrete due to the waiver clause, the Labour government was forced to build an entirely new block.

Besides the €150 million it cost the Labour government to remedy the situation, the architect responsible to oversee the construction of Mater Dei had testified under oath that “no one knows where Lm200 million had ended”. He added: “I should have resigned instead of staying right up to the end of the project.”

No wonder the board of inquiry, led by the late judge Philip Sciberras, had concluded: “It was evident that the defective concrete used could not be the result of a genuine mistake or failure of oversight but must have been the result of concerted efforts from which the contractor, suppliers and, possibly, third parties benefitted.”

All this, he had remarked, “borders on the criminal”.

Delia seems to have felt very comfortable even then.

Eddy Privitera – Naxxar

Sword of Islam

In his write-up on peace in the Middle East, Laiq Ahmed Atif wrote: “It is strange that people allege that religion is the cause of unrest in the world” (August 13).

Winston Churchill observed: “The religion of Islam above all others was founded upon the sword... Moreover, it provides incentives to slaughter and in three continents has produced fighting breeds of men – filled with a wild and merciless fanaticism.”

Phillip Adams, Australian writer and film-maker, declared that: “Marx was wrong. Religion is not the opiate of the people. Opium suggests something soporific, numbing, dulling. Too often religion has been an aphrodisiac for horror.”

Mgr Lorenzo Albacete, US theologian and writer, stated on the day of the catastrophe of 9/11: “From the first moment I looked into that horror on September 11th, into that fireball, into that explosion of horror, I knew it. I knew it before anything was said about those who did it or why. I recognised an old companion. I recognised religion.”

Elizabeth Marbury (1856-1933), a pioneering American theatrical and literary agent, and a convert to Roman Catholicism, said: “No wars are more bitter than those undertaken in the name of religion.”

John Guillaumier – St Julian’s