The Auditor General presented a report on the Investigation on alleged irregularities regarding the Sant’Antnin Waste Plant in Marsascala. The tender, issued by WasteServ Malta Limited, was awarded to an international consulting company SLR Consulting Ltd. This tender, whose cost exceeded €200,000, had a variation order of an additional amount of €35,523 to amend the Environmental Impact Statement.

In a letter sent to the Public Accounts Committee, the Hon. O. Bonnici highlighted a number of alleged irregularities on the part of SLR Consulting Ltd. Subsequently, the Public Accounts Committee officially requested the Auditor General to investigate the allegations made.

The National Audit Office conducted this investigation, solely from a financial and compliance aspect. In this respect, the National Audit Office addressed the issue of payments effected to SLR Consulting Ltd against the:

• terms of reference as set out in the tender document;
• SLR Consulting Ltd’s response to the call for tender; and
• the Environmental Impact Statement delivered by the company.

From the Auditor General’s investigation, it resulted that SLR Consulting Ltd was paid the full tender amount, notwithstanding the fact that two reports were excluded from the Environmental Impact Statement. The same company presented another two reports, the costings of which could not be identified in the Schedule of Rates forming part of the tender document submitted by the company. Subsequently, WasteServ paid SLR Consulting Ltd an amount exceeding €4,000 for one of these reports, as part of the variation order.

It was also concluded that, WasteServ failed to make a payment of about €36,000 of Value Added Tax on this contract. This amount, equivalent to 18% of the total tender value, should have been taken into account when awarding the tender to SLR Consulting Ltd.