Labour councillor appointed on MEPA tribunal

Architect Roderick Spiteri, a Labour councillor who also served as mayor of Poala between 2012 and 2015, has been appointed to serve on the Malta Environment and Planning Authority’s Tribunal for Review as an “ad hoc committee” member together with lawyer Carol Bugeja.

The Tribunal, a quasi-judicial body, has a final say on appeals presented against decisions taken by the planning authority boards.  As an ad hoc member Spiteri, a practising architect, will serve in cases where one of the three full members of the authority declares a conflict of interest and cannot judge a particular case.

The present tribunal, chaired by planner Martin Saliba, includes architect and Freeport chairman Robert Sarsero and lawyer and Labour candidate Simon Micallef Stafrace.  Both Sarsero and Micallef Stafrace have their own private practice and have to abstain in cases affecting their clients. Sarsero is listed as a shareholder of Arkea Projects and Main Properties Ltd.

Contacted by MaltaToday Spiteri insisted that he will be abstaining in any case involving either the Labour Party or the Poala local council as this would represent a conflict of interest. As all other tribunal members he will also abstain in any case involving clients.

“I have no conflict in any case involving people I do not know and with whom I have no professional relationship,” he said.

Asked whether he would feel any conflict in cases in which the government is involved, Spiteri replied that “one has to see the merits of each case”.

The President, on the advice of the Prime Minister, currently appoints members of the committee. The proposed MEPA demerger law makes such appointments the direct responsibility of the Prime Minister. According to the new law, government agencies including the newly created Environment Authority will be given an automatic right to appeal MEPA decisions.

The part-time board composed of Sarsero, Micallef Stafrace and Saliba was appointed in 2013 to complement an existing board composed of architect Chris Falzon as chairperson, Dr Ramon Rossignaud and architect Jevon Vella, who were engaged on a full-time basis for four years by MEPA in 2011.

The idea of having full time boards was to avoid potential conflicts of interest faced by practising architects and lawyers when dealing with cases involving not only current clients but also past and potential clients. The term of the old board has now expired and MEPA’s highest decision making organ is now composed entirely of part timers. 

Under the new system, the members are being appointed on a part-time basis and will be able to continue exercising their professions. However, they are expected to abstain from any case in which they may have a conflict of interest, which they will have to declare.

Micallef Stafrace and Spiteri are not the first party candidates to be appointed on the appeal board – in 2006 Ian Spiteri Bailey, a lawyer and PN candidate for the European elections, was also appointed to the board. But Spiteri is the first party representative in office to serve on the board, albeit on an ad hoc basis.