PL calls for independent investigation into CPD land passed on to private company

An "independent and transparent" investigation should be launched into how public land owned by the Civil Protection Department became private property.

The land in question is being used by International Safety Training Centre Ltd, a subsidiary of Alberta Holdings.

While government has already denied that the CPD transferred land or entered into a contract to transfer land, Falzon said he is going to insist that all contracts and agreements between government and this company - stopping short of mentioning it by name - are tabled in Parliament.

"This is an obscene scandal where everyone involved are washing their hands off the case," Falzon said, addressing the media this morning.

The case goes back to 2006, when it was asked in parliament how come a CPD facility became the property of a private company. Tonio Borg, who at the time was Home Affairs Minister, said the company had a concession to used the fire station grounds at Hal Far.

In 2009, Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici said an agreement had been carried out in April 2000.

The issue was raised again in 2010 when Mifsud Bonnici refused to divulge what ownership the company had on the land, Falzon said.

"Moreover, a file related to the case at the Lands Department had been lost for a long period of time. Following intervention of the Office of the Prime Minister the file was found on the desk of a high official working within the department," Falzon said, adding that this was "gutter politics".

Last year, MaltaToday had revealed that no public tender was issued when an Alberta subsidiary was allowed to make use of the Civil Protection Department's facilities in Hal Far in return for the free training CPD personnel. 

The agreement, signed 11 years ago and valid till 2013, surfaced in a MaltaToday probe on the use of a public borehole by International Safety Training Centre Ltd a subsidiary of Alberta Holdings.

It turned out that the company was pumping water from a borehole belonging to the CPD to fill a pool used for training course by the company.

When asked on whether this activity was permitted by the CPD, Director  Patrick Murgo referred to an agreement between the Civil Protection Department and the private company which enabled the latter to operate in the CPD's Hal Far grounds.  But according to Murgo, this agreement did not cover the extraction of ground water and that this activity had been stopped.

Subsequently, MaltaToday asked the Ministry for Finance for details on this agreement, asking specifically whether a call for tenders had ever been issued as is usually done in cases involving the use of public land.

The Ministry spokesperson made it clear that the lands department was not involved in this agreement.

"The agreement is a private agreement entered upon between Civil Protection and International Safety Training Centre Limited, where this department was not involved".

The Ministry spokesperson added that it was up to Civil Protection to decide whether they want to divulge information about this agreement.

Replying to MaltaToday's questions, the CPD revealed that the agreement was signed through a notarial deed between Safety Training Centre (Malta) Limited and the Civil Protection Department, on behalf of the Government of Malta on 7 April, 2000. 

"The purpose of the agreement was to enable the company to carry out fire training at the CPD's Fire Fighting Training Grounds in Hal Far in  return for a financial consideration and benefits in kind by way of availability of free training to CPD personnel".

Despite being asked specifically to state the amount of rent paid by the company, the CPD did not reveal the nature of the "financial consideration".