Chris Said’s brothers awarded 139 jobs to their other brother while Nadur mayor - PL

Between 2013 and April this year, two brothers of opposition MP Chris Said, awarded 139 jobs to their other brother, while serving as mayors of Nadur in Gozo.

This was revealed on Wednesday in a press conference addressed by the Labour Party deputy leader Chris Cardona and parliamentary secretary Stefan Buontempo.

Cardona said this came in the wake of the Auditor General’s report published recently in which he admonished Said for interfering in decision on the allocation of funds for local councils while serving as parliamentary secretary under the previous administration.

In that same report, he noted, the auditor general had clearly stated that he had not believed the version of events Said had presented.

Cardona called on opposition leader Simon Busuttil to investigate the matter seriously, especially since it was the auditor general – and not the Labour Party – that claimed Said had breached the limites of good governance.

He said Busuttil should also investigate this latest news concerning Said and take action.

Cardona said all this was coming to light following the current administration’s introduction of a number of measures aimed at improving the public perception of politicians.

Such measures included the removal of prescription, protection for whistleblowers, legislation on party financing and on standards for politicians and legislation granting parliament greater autonomy.

Buontempo noted that the auditor general’s report had been clear in concluding that Said had intervened in the work of the evaluation board and changed regulations to fit.

Said had also discriminated between communities and left many local councils in financial difficulties after the introduction of the road network scheme.

The conference was also addressed by Josianne Cutajar, Nadur Labour councillor, who said that Labour councillors had been pointing what was going on within the Nadur local council for a number of years.

The council was in a dire financial state, she said. “Nadur belongs to all of Nadur, and not the Said brothers alone.”