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I refer to the article published on this newspaper on 4 June 2006, entitled “electricity theft had been ongoing for two years” and I am pleased to note that your newspaper seems to have a better dialogue with the new mayor than some of the councillors have.
This article followed a Council meeting that was held on 1 June, where I expected that the Mayor would inform the Council on the goings-on of an alleged case of theft of electricity. I noted that there was no item on the agenda on the matter, notwithstanding that on a particular day there were a quantity of police officers in the Council premises carrying out an investigation, which I presume was kicked off by the Mayor himself. I expected that the Mayor would have made some sort of statement but he uttered nothing.
I am justified to ask, why is it that there is such secrecy on the matter in the Council meetings, when on the other hand the Mayor prefers to tip off this newspaper? Why didn’t the Labour mayor tip off his party’s newsroom? This matter certainly interests Super 1… a PN official and the former secretary (not the head) of a PN commission entangled in a scandal.
I have been making my own investigations about the matter. As a fact both the Mayor and Deputy Mayor were councillors in the previous two administrations and had ample access to the council office building. It is very suspicious that the discovery took place days after the Mayor resolved to terminate the Executive Secretary, John O’Dea’s employment. The plug, not the wire, was found in the Council’s meeting room, as suggested in the abovementioned article. The wire ran through a garage at the back of the building.
Rumours have it that the Mayor is in a bit of a quandary because there may be persons who have contributed considerably to the MLP Pietà Club, who may be involved in this matter. The Mayor’s son is currently the barman of the same MLP Pietà Club. Is the water becoming murky enough? The Mayor seems to have been reprimanded from some quarters because he chose the wrong scandal and also because he should not have involved certain people in the matter.
I am also justified to question, whether this discovery of a wire was a surprise or not. Was there anybody close to the Labour Councillors who was fully aware of what was going on before the so called discovery?
Incidentally, the Mayor did not ask for a meeting with the Director of Local Government on this matter, but asked that he meet him to explain verbally the reasons why he wants to terminate Mr O’Dea’s employment contract. The alleged electricity theft discovery was an afterthought. In the Council meeting of 4 May 2006, the Mayor did not want to discuss the reasons for termination of the contract and just wanted to proceed with a vote. I objected and declared that the only reasons were political vendetta and political discrimination.
I hope that this newspaper will also combat any form on discrimination, whoever the subject may be and I am also sure that it is capable of smelling a rat.
Dr Malcolm Mifsud
Councillor
Pietà
Editorial note: This newspaper was not tipped off by any source.
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