Former Zabbar mayor Quinton Scerri who resigned last month following the conclusions of a report made by the Board of Local Governance has filed a judicial protest against the director of the Department of Local Government.

In a statement sent to this newsroom, Mr Scerri said that the board passes on the recommendations to the department and therefore is holding the department responsible in the event it takes up the recommendations of the board.

The department of local government can either choose to ignore the recommendations or take action and this is the reason why Mr Scerri filed a judicial protest against the department and not the board which emerged with the report. In the event the department does take action against Mr Scerri, further legal steps will follow from Mr Scerri’s end, the judicial protest read.

Mr Scerri had resigned from the council as mayor following the conclusions of an investigation made by the Board of Local Governance which stated that he is not a credible and reliable person and councillors should have used their right to raise a vote of no confidence in him.

In an 18-page report, the board drew up its conclusions on allegations made on the operations of the council, including irregularities committed by the mayor during the holding of the international food festival, the awarding of a contract to a company which has, as a director, a relative of the mayor, and an attempt of a frame-up made by the mayor against a councillor.

In response Mr Scerri claimed that one of the board members, Ronnie Pellegrini, instigated the investigation.

Correspondence seen by this media house showed that Mr Scerri wrote to the board citing the reason why he was requesting Mr Pellegrini is excluded. The correspondence states: “Due to the fact that Mr Pellegrini has already expressed his thoughts on the issue in other instances, I am requesting that the member of the board (Mr Pellegrini) is replaced so that any form of prejudice is avoided.”

The investigation had been kickstarted after an internal feud between the councillors of the Zabbar council and Mr Scerri ensued. The majority of the PL councillors had refused to attend council meetings, some missing as many as 13 consecutive council meetings.

Mr Scerri had told this newsroom that he had resigned to clear his name and to seek damages against those who are trying to tarnish his reputation.