Culture minister Louis Galea looks to have incurred the full wrath of the World Monuments Fund after last week blaming them, at least in part, for the non-appearance of a grant to conserve the Mnajdra Temples.

The museums department was awarded a $50,000 grant some time back to help conserve the megalithic stones, which were extensively damaged on Good Friday, but the WMF said it had been unable to release the funds because a project plan was not submitted.

However, Dr Galea told MaltaToday last week that the WMF had failed to reply to a query from the Maltese side as to how the funds were to be released, saying: "Records show that this request for information remained unanswered for a number of months."

But Norma Barbarcci, WMF Director of Programmes, described Dr Galea’s allegations as "completely inaccurate and unfair".

"We at the World Monuments Fund are extremely offended by these allegations," she told MaltaToday.

Pledging to take the matter further and urging the Maltese authorities to look into the issue, Ms Barbarcci also pointed out that the WMF has still not received the bank information required for the NGO to send the first payment of the grant.

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