Architect Vince Cassar, currently serving as the independent chairman of the Planning Authority, has been recruited as a consultant to a government agency.
Mr Cassar, a former permanent secretary, had been put at the helm of the now defunct Malta Environment and Planning Authority in 2013 and currently chairs the PA’s most important decision-making body.
Last year, he was awarded a direct contract from the Foundation for Tomorrow Schools (FTS) to start acting as a consultant to the chairman of the government agency. He is receiving an extra €20,000 remuneration a year.
According to the law governing the PA and its boards, members of the planning board of other authority commissions cannot serve if they are also employees of the government or any of its agencies. The Development Planning Act states that the chairperson of the Planning Board is to be chosen from “the five independent members” appointed by the minister.
It says “no person shall be qualified to be appointed as, or to remain, a member of the Planning Board if he is a public officer; is an employee of any department, agency, corporation or authority of the government (excluding University staff); or if he has a financial or other interest in any enterprise or activity which is likely to affect the discharge of his functions as a member of the Planning Board”.
PA sources said that although Mr Cassar’s position is not, “strictly speaking”, considered to be an official employment position, “many have raised eyebrows when learning of his new position”.
There is no conflict of interest with his role at the PA
“Even if it’s not illegal, such a position making an independent decision maker dependent on a government contract doesn’t look good,” the sources said.
A spokesman for the government’s school building agency was quick to point out that according to the FTS, the appointment does not constitute a conflict of interest.
“Mr Cassar was given a one-year contract of service,” the FTS spokesman confirmed.
“He (Mr Cassar) is specifically precluded from participating in any issue which may put him in a conflict with other positions he occupies,” the spokesman underlined.
The spokesman added that both the FTS and Education Minister Evarist Bartolo “have full faith in Mr Cassar’s professional integrity”.
Taking an identical stance, the Planning Authority reiterated Mr Cassar’s independence despite acting as a consultant to a government agency.
“Mr Cassar’s role at the FTS is that of providing consultancy services on project management issues only,” a PA spokesman said.
“In this role there is no conflict of interest with his role at the PA as it does not involve work related to planning applications on projects. Additionally, Mr Cassar had informed the authority about this role he was taking up.”
The authority said that ever since Mr Cassar assumed his new role at the FTS, the Planning Board has not had any planning decisions to take related to foundation projects.
The main function of the FTS is to build new schools and revamp old ones.