Prime Minister ‘awaiting further developments’ on Mistra Heights

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is awaiting further developments on the Mistra Heights report, after the Ombudsman's investigation found that MEPA would have been justified if it had opted to revoke the permit.

The Planning Authority, on its part, insisted that a permit could only be considered for revocation in the case of an error on the face of the record, fraud or public safety.

Environment NGOs have since called for the resignation of MEPA board members. The Prime Minister has insisted that while the NGOs had "all the right" to make their calls, the board members should not resign.

"If we had to act in this way, then the number of people who should resign from boards, especially in the past, would be much higher," he said.

Muscat said the crux of the issue was the interpretation of law, with MEPA arguing that it had used the same system it had always adopted.

Acknowledging that the Mistra permit had given rise to "discontent", Muscat said MEPA had looked into the possibility of revoking the permit.

"But the outline permit had already been issued under the previous administration and the advice given to MEPA was that it now could not be revoked," he said.

"We now await further development on the matter."

The Prime Minister said he respected what the Ombusdman had said in his report, "but a number of factual errors were made". According to MEPA, the legal points raised by the Commissioner were "incorrect".