A preliminary report drawn up by former Malta Environment and Planning Authority audit officer Carmel Cacopardo about the Marsascala waste recycling plant, will not be made public after a Mepa lawyer strongly objected in court, stating that the report was not yet complete.

Mr Cacopardo, who was employed within the Mepa audit office as an investigating officer, was testifying in a case filed by the Marsascala local council against Mepa over the controversial, and highly discussed Sant Antnin waste recycling plant, which is expected to begin operating by the end of this month.

In his testimony, Mr Cacopardo said that the Mepa audit office received a total of nine complaints about the recycling plant, and that the Mepa audit officer Joseph Falzon had to carry out an investigation.

He started investigating in January 2007 and handed over the report to Mr Falzon on 22 February.

However, Mr Cacopardo said that Mepa wrote to the Ombudsman, instead of giving its feedback, because it believed that these investigations should not be published since it would be prejudicial to the appeals process. He went on to say that the Ombudsman upheld Mepa’s opinion and advised the audit officer not to release the document.

In his testimony, he said that he investigated all nine complaints submitted, and submitted a 21-page report.

Lawyer Owen Bonnici asked Mr Cacopardi about his findings, but Mepa lawyer Ian Stafrace objected, stating that the report was not yet finalised as Mr Falzon had stopped the investigation process following the Ombudsman recommendation.

Furthermore, Dr Stafrace said that Mepa had objected to the procedure of publishing the reports, and this was not because it did not want the finds published.

Amid a heated discussion, Mr Cacopardo said that both he and Mr Falzon disagreed with the Ombudsdman recommendation, and added that Mr Falzon could have ignored it, but still decided to put the investigation on hold.

In his testimony, Mr Falzon said that he had taken up the Ombudsman’s recommendation because of the pending appeal.

Furthermore, he said, when he sent the report to Mepa chairman Andrew Calleja, he asked for a quick reply as he wanted to sort it out before Mr Calleja’s term of office was up.

Mr Falzon pointed out that it was in Mepa’s interest that these reports were made public, because they were drawn up for the sake of transparency.

The case continues. The sitting was chaired by Judicial Assistant Maria Dolores Gauci.