ADPD's Carmel Cacopardo requests Auditor General to investigate Project Green

ADPD deputy chairman Carmel Cacopardo has requested the Auditor General to investigate an “abusive direct order” and employment practices by Project Green.

On Wednesday, Cacopardo quoted two news reports from The Shift News which detail separate instances of what he called “nepotism” and an “abusive direct order.”

The latter issue centres around a direct order given to architect Edwin Mintoff, who was given a €1 million direct order in connection to a garden in Bormla where a dormitory for the American University of Malta was once planned.

The news portal reported that Mintoff was supposed to design the dormitory, and when those plans fell through he lost out on significant work. 

Cacopardo’s claim of nepotism stems from another report which details how Project Green CEO, Joseph Cuschieri hired 19 managers, many of whom are his friends or acquaintances. 

Sources who had spoken to the news portal said that Project Green employees are questioning the need for more and more managers. 

Cuschieri had been appointed CEO after the entity's first CEO had resigned in order to contest the MEP election earlier this year. 

In his communication with the Auditor General, Cacopardo requested an investigation into the government entity’s observance, or lack of observance to public finance laws.