Mater Dei inquiry 'tainted by prejudice', PN insists

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The Nationalist Opposition has claimed that the people's trust in an independent inquiry into the use of concrete of inferior quality has been "dented" because the inquiry is being led and assisted by people close to the Labour Party.

The PN also challenged Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to declare whether any of the Maltese contractors involved in the construction of the hospital had made any donations to the Labour Party and whether Muscat was now defending the interests of these contractors.

The independent inquiry, ongoing since September, is being led by retired judge Philip Sciberras, who the PN also reminded served as a Labour MP. According to the PN, it was also unacceptable that Sciberras' son, Alex, had been assigned to legally assist the inquiry by interviewing witnesses.

Yesterday in parliament, Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi confirmed that the government had assigned lawyer Alex Sciberras to assist with the thousands of documents pertaining to the construction of Mater Dei Hospital. The PN showed part of the recording during the press conference.

"It is unacceptable that a former Labour MP and a former judge, supported by his son, are working together on an inquiry. It is also wrong to appoint Alex Sciberras irrespective of who his father is: he is heavily active in the Labour Party, has contested local council elections and  is regularly asked to participate in discussion programmes representing the PL," PN deputy leader for party affairs Beppe Fenech Adami said.

Fenech Adami said there was a conflict interest as well because Alex Sciberras had been nominated by the government as the board secretary of the Foundation for Medical Services. Sciberras has long resigned from the post.

"Serious questions over the inquiry are being raised. Even worse is the fact that the Minister appears to already know what's being said in the inquiry from the way he spoke in parliament," Fenech Adami said.

"The inquiry is prejudiced, no longer impartial and is being used as political football rather than to seek the truth. We emphasise that the inquiry should have ensured that those who are truly responsible for the allegations bring raised are brought to justice."

He instead that the government shouldn't have appointed a Labour activist to work on matter "in which the PL was evidently trying to score political points".

Shadow minister Jason Azzopardi delivered a scathing attack against PBS head of news Reno Bugeja after the state media last night reported that Alex Sciberras was not involved in the inquiry.

"It was a conscious decision by Reno Bugeja to twist the facts," Azzopardi said of the veteran journalist. He said that PBS should immediately correct its report and stop "insulting people's intelligence and pandering to the government's propaganda".

"PBS shouldn't be the vehicle of deceit and what Bugeja did is obscene," he said, adding that the PN had filed a complaint with PBS.

On her part, shadow health minister Claudette Buttigieg called on the government to immediately publish the Arup report in full, the hospital's tender specifications, all certifications that took place and the methodology used by Arup in conducting their tests.