PL MPs refuse to have parallel discussion on the Fortina controversy in the PAC
The Audit Committee, which is discussing the Fortina report, does not have the same investigative functions as the Public Accounts Committee
Labour MPs on Wednesday shot down a suggestion for a "parallel" discussion of the Auditor General's report on the Fortina Hotel land transfer in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
PAC chairman Darren Carabott asked for the Auditor General's findings to be urgently scrutinised by the committee, given its powers to investigate these reports.
Carabott, a PN MP, pointed out that the Audit Committee, which is currently discussing the report, does not have the same investigative functions as the Public Accounts Committee.
Deputy Prime Minister Ian Borg urgently convened the audit committee last week following revelations by the Auditor General that Lands Authority official Lino Farrugia Sacco "suppressed" a valuation report at the centre of negotiations for the government to remove conditions in a land transfer deal.
Borg, who chairs the audit committee and was the minister responsible for the Lands Authority at the time, refuted suggestions that he has a conflict of interest in the matter.
The "suppressed" report valued the land at €18 million, while Fortina were made to pay the government €8.1 million to be able to build apartments and commerical outlets on the land.
Labour MP Alex Muscat said the government side had no problem discussing the Auditor General's report on Fortina in the PAC, once the discussion on the same report was concluded in the audit committee.
Fellow Labour MP Glen Bedingfield agreed, saying there was little sense in carrying out a parallel discussion in the PAC at this stage.
They said the Opposition was welcome to put the Fortina report on the agenda once the PAC's discussion on an unrelated Auditor General report was concluded.
On Wednesday, Times of Malta and Amphora Media revealed how ex-Lands CEO James Piscopo received payments from Fortina CEO Edward Zammit Tabona, in the same year of the contentious Fortina deal.