An ‘independent’ tribunal tasked with hearing appeals against Planning Authority decisions was chaired by a PA employee, court documents reviewed by Times of Malta show.
Upon his appointment to the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT) in June 2013, chairman Martin Saliba reached an agreement with the PA that allowed him to stay on as an employee with the authority on unpaid leave.
The agreement meant he could return to the PA on the same pay grade once his term on the tribunal was up.
According to the law establishing the tribunal, the appeals body is supposed to be an ‘independent and impartial tribunal’ whose remit is to preside over appeals filed against decisions taken by the Planning Authority and the Environment Resources Authority.
Veteran architects who were contacted by Times of Malta said they were incredulous to see Saliba’s dual role as both judge and an employee of the authority being judged.
Saliba, who was appointed by then Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, chaired the EPRT between 2013 and November 2019. He returned to the Planning Authority as its executive chairman following a public call in November 2019, replacing Johann Buttigieg. One of the last major appeals against the PA rejected by the EPRT concerned the permit given for the Central Link project, a €55 million undertaking to widen the main thoroughfare between Mrieħel and Ta’ Qali.
The Central Link decision was handed down a few weeks before Saliba took over the reins of the Planning Authority, which at the time fell under the political remit of Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg, the same minister who pushed through the Central Link project.
A court had subsequently rejected an appeal by eNGOs against the EPRT’s decision.
Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Carmel Cacopardo, a practising architect who represents clients in EPRT appeals, described Saliba’s situation as “very serious”.
“If the EPRT chairman was on the PA’s books, he cannot be impartial, regardless of whether or not he is being paid.
“It reflects badly not only on himself, but on whoever appointed him.
“It is a very serious issue. The EPRT’s past decisions can be contested on this basis,” Cacopardo said.
Alex Torpiano, president of eNGO Din l-Art Ħelwa, told Times of Malta having someone judging appeals against an entity he is on unpaid leave from is “unheard of”.
“This can have consequences, people can decide to appeal the EPRT’s decisions simply because the person chairing it was a PA employee. I cannot understand how they allowed this situation to happen,” Torpiano said.
‘Agreement allowed me to detach from PA’
Replying to Times of Malta’s questions via e-mail, Saliba said the agreement he reached with the PA in 2013 was nothing more than an acceptance of his request for unpaid leave and the possibility of returning to the authority after termination of his employment with the EPRT.
“This agreement allowed me to leave the authority at the time and preside over the tribunal on a full-time basis. As a matter of fact, during my tenure as a chairperson of the tribunal I was registered with Jobsplus on a full-time contract basis with the tribunal,” Saliba said.
Saliba, who has risen through the ranks of the PA since starting as a trainee in 1992, said he made the request as his situation was “unique”.
As an employee he did not have a profession to fall back on once his term was up, unlike other tribunal members, who were also lawyers and architects.
He argued the agreement allowed himself to “detach” from the PA, meaning he could “serve faithfully over the tribunal in line with the principles of justice”.
“This also ensured that in no way could I be subject to the control or direction of the authority, as during my appointment, I only served and performed duties as a chairperson of the tribunal. “I did not engage in any way with the authority since then until my termination of employment with the tribunal.
“For all the above reasons, I did not need to declare any conflict of interest because as facts stand, I was in no way affiliated with the Planning Authority.”
PA employee status confirmed in court
Despite Saliba’s assertion that he “detached” himself from the authority, court documents confirm he will still a PA employee while chairing the tribunal. The issue came to the fore as part of a court appeal filed in 2015 against the PA and EPRT about a planning permit that had been rejected.
A PA official had testified during a court sitting about the case in 2016, stating that Saliba was still considered an employee of the authority.
Prime Minister Robert Abela had represented the Planning Authority in the case.
Saliba took to the witness stand in the same case last year, confirming the arrangement he had brokered with the PA.
The PA chairman told the court that he had not renewed the agreement to remain on unpaid leave with the authority after 2017.
In a subsequent telephone conversation with Times of Malta about the agreement, Saliba admitted that while he did not ask for the arrangement with the PA to be renewed, he believes it remained in place.
“I still was [a PA employee], I think I still was; I just left it [the agreement] there, I did not take any notice.
“You have to understand my situation. It was an opportunity that I was qualified for. I have a family, you have to understand my circumstances…
“I always conducted my work in a fair manner,” Saliba said, when asked to clarify if he was still a PA employee after 2017.