Wasteserv ‘turn blind eye’ on exportation of hazardous waste

Labour MP Leo Brincat said that that the national waste agency, Wasteserv, possibly turned a blind eye to the exportation of hazardous waste to India, which was labelled as Green listed non hazardous waste.

He said that "there might have been a very recent case in which Wasteserv could have turned a blind eye on the export of dangerous waste to India, disguised green listed non hazardous waste, including white goods containing high quantities of Hazardous WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment)."

Additionally, Brincat said that Wasteserv are aware of this and is attempting to reduce its operational costs, considering that the transportation of hazardous waste costs more

"This further strengthens the Labour Party's resolve and commitment, and our repeated calls to have a serious and independent technical investigation into the operation of the agency," Brincat said.

Brincat added that disagreement exists between Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa) and Wasteserv, over the data provided by the national waste agency,

Brincat noted that Wasteserv had learnt nothing from the Auditor General's investigation into a number of shortcomings, published in a report tabled in Parliament in December.

"While we are informed that there is lack of agreement between Mepa and Wasteserv, regarding the data being submitted periodically to the regulator, this does not exclude Ministerial pressure to conceal certain discrepancies," Brincat said.

In December, the national waste agency had insisted that it had fully cooperated with the auditing exercise carried out by the National Audit Office, adding that top officials of the agency were also involved in talks with NAO representatives to clarify any questions that may have arisen.

Late last year, the Auditor General presented the House of Representatives with the audit report for 2011, in which he raised several points of concern with regards to Wasteserv Malta.  An audit of capital and recurrent expenditure incurred by Wasteserv Malta Ltd revealed "long delays and substantial cost variations on capital projects".

The Auditor General said that lack of transparency and non-compliance with procurement regulations were also noted, especially regarding sub-contracted labour. He also highlighted the inadequacy of the overall internal controls as a major concern.

In the Auditor General's report WasteServ was rapped for not seeking the Budget Affairs Director General's approval for changes to the contract which the report said was increased from €1.1 million to €29.1 million.

However, WasteServ insisted that there was no wrongdoing in the contract awarded to JF Solutions for the provision of labourers, which hit the headlines in recent weeks following the publication of the Auditor General's report.

WasteServ CEO Ben Farrugia had told MaltaToday: "We have done everything by the book. The Auditor General maintained that we should have sought the approval of the Director General at the Budget Office, however we explained that the contract was given the go-ahead by the Contracts Department within the same finance ministry and the Budget Office was made aware when our yearly budget was approved."