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Matthew Vella
The Malta Environment and Planning Authority dished out the total of Lm48,000 in 2004 to the legal firm Abela, Stafrace & Associates - a partner of which is former Labour deputy leader George Abela - to take over the body of legal work from its in-house legal advisors.
The authority has confirmed its decision to outsource legal services was to avoid conflicts of interest when advising on legal matters pertaining to MEPA employees, as the authority finds itself facing a contentious challenge to its internal operations. MEPA did not specify what these conflicts of interest were.
In 2004, the authority also paid Lm5,558 to another legal firm for the provision of legal services.
Legal services at MEPA were outsourced back in 2001 following the resignation of one member of the two-man strong legal team at the authority. Spokesperson Sylvana Debono told MaltaToday that a growing workload and a preference towards contractual services as opposed to employment, have informed the authority's reason to opt for outsourced legal services.
MaltaToday is informed that Abela, Stafrace & Associates today carry out the bulk of all MEPA's caseload, having effectively sidelined the authority's only lawyer, none other than the head of legal services, to handle appeals cases only.
The authority has had only one lawyer on board ever since 2001, with the exception of a temporary addition in 2002 concentrating on environmental law.
Legal costs for the authority's in-house services have equalled those incurred by the outsourced services of Abela, Stafrace & Associates, although clear differences exist between the handsome Lm48,000 remuneration for services and the salary paid to the authority's head of legal services.
In 2004, direct and indirect costs for both in-house and outsourced services were each Lm64,000.
Debono said Abela, Stafrace & Associates were selected after MEPA issued a public request for proposals and evaluated offers by various firms.
"Any other information which we may divulge may easily be obtained from the Annual
Report. The Authority has nothing further to add on the matter," Debono said about questions put by this newspaper on specific salaries and fees paid for the provision of in-house and outsourced legal services.
Debono said that since MEPA's inception, the authority has always outsourced a portion of the legal services it requires. "There are a number of reasons for this approach, including a preference towards a solution that is not based entirely on fixed costs whilst remaining scalable in accordance with the authority's needs, and a consideration of the degree of trust required in the relationship between client and legal counsel."
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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