In a statement issued on 22 June, the OHSA said an architect who happened to be in the vicinity of the building which collapsed in St Paul’s Bay on 4 June had told the people accompanying him that the building looked very dangerous and was in imminent danger of collapsing.

Yet no action was taken to inform the people who actually lived or were in the building, with the result that two women died when the block collapsed 90 minutes later, the OHSA said. Mary Zarb, 60, and her student, 24-year-old Nadia Vavilova, were recovered from under the rubble almost 12 hours after the building collapsed.

In a statement issued yesterday, chamber president Lawrence Mintoff made reference to Dr Gauci’s claim, adding that he should not have made this declaration “which was only based on anonymous information”.

“By making the anonymous allegation public, Dr Gauci has given the information the status of a fact and used it to put both an individual and the profession of the architect in a bad light. This is simply misleading the public and blatantly unfair on the architect’s profession. Even when emotions run high, one should keep a clear distinction between established facts and allegations, especially if the allegation is made anonymously,” said Mr Mintoff.