Criticism Mounts Against Planning Authority Chief Executive’s Private Jet Decision
The Planning Authority’s executive chairperson Johann Buttigieg (left) is under mounting pressure
The Planning Authority’s executive chairperson Johann Buttigieg is feeling the heat for his decision to fork out a handsome €8,750 on a private jet to fly a PA board member from Sicily to Malta to vote on the db Group’s Pembroke high-rise project.
Government sources told Lovin Malta that Buttigieg’s justification for his decision – that the PA had learned its lesson about not having a full house for a vote on a high profile project – has only aggravated the situation.
This is because there were clearly cheaper alternative means to bring Jacqueline Gili to Malta, such as by her travelling through Air Malta, or the catamaran, or by her postponing her holiday altogether.
Transport Minister Ian Borg
Asked for his reaction to Buttigieg’s explanation, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg, who is politically responsible for the PA, said his disagreement on the way the Authority handled this incident still stands.
“The Ministry is confident that the Authority will duly consider the valid criticism of these actions, and will regulate itself accordingly,” Borg told Lovin Malta.
“The Ministry has also asked the Authority to evaluate the proposal to allow substitutes of board members to attend board meetings in certain circumstances, which is currently not permissible, and to propose fair and transparent solutions, as well as any legislative amendments that may be necessary, to avoid similar difficulties in the future.”
The Labour Party’s president Daniel Micallef said he felt angry and disappointed when he heard the news of the private jet, which he described as an “insensitive” decision on the PA’s part.
“Despite the PA’s explanation, I still think the message it sent out through its decision wasn’t a positive one,” he said on ONE Radio. “As a public authority, you don’t have to just have to follow protocol and regulations but you must be transparent in a tangible manner with regards the way you send out certain messages. It’s just like how justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done.”
Micallef also urged the PA to provide answers to certain accusations of conflict of interest, a clear reference to board member Matthew Pace, who is also an investor in a franchise of a real estate agency which is selling apartments from from this high-rise project.
“If the Labour Party wants to remain credible with the public, then we must call out wrongdoing, even though our party is in government,” he said.
Popular ONE TV presenter Karl Stagno Navarra commented on Micallef’s Facebook post to say he agrees perfectly with what he had to say.
Micallef’s intervention follows a veiled warning from Labour’s CEO Randolph Debattista, about how the party risks becoming the cause of its own downfall if it fails to recognise and address its own shortcomings.
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