Naxxar mayor Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adami has denied having a conflict of interest on a planning application which she voted in favour of, and will not resign from her post – despite calls from her own party – the PN – to do so.

The PN has now launched an investigation into her behaviour.

In a statement sent to the media, Muscat Fenech Adami said that as the locality’s mayor, she had always considered the interests of Naxxar and its residents first and foremost, and that the council had managed to achieve changes which drastically reduced the footprint and height of the development in such a project.

She said that the work done by the council is reflected in the low number of objections to the project when compared with the first plans for the area, noting that it was the council’s persuasion which eventually led to the developer to change the plans.

Muscat Fenech Adami said that her vote in favour of the project when it came before the Planning Authority board was a “full reflection” of the sentiment and decision of the local council taken in meeting number 33, and every other time that the project had been discussed.

She said that she wanted to respect the decision taken by the local council through her vote, noting that this is “political democracy.”

MaltaToday on Sunday revealed that Muscat Fenech Adami is a secretary in a company where the architect of the project is a shareholder. 

However Muscat Fenech Adami rebutted the claims, saying that Chalet Bulgari – the company in question – has no projects in Malta and that she was nominated as the secretary by one of the shareholders who has nothing to do with the Naxxar project.

She said that her role as board secretary is in accordance with company law and that she has no say or influence on any of this board’s decisions.

She also said that she has no contractual ties with architect Edwin Mintoff – who was the architect behind the project.

In light of this, she said, her personal belief is that she took on her role with “transparency and political ethics” and had preserved the interests of the locality and its residents along with the rest of the council.

Therefore, she said, she is morally convinced that she should continue to hold the role of mayor of Naxxar, even with respect to the strong mandate that the locality’s residents had given her – a mandate which she said should not be undermined by any “political games, more so when they are not based on facts.”

She promised to continue working in favour of the Naxxar local council and to put the interests of residents first.

Her reaction comes after the PN had called on Muscat Fenech Adami to resign her post within 24 hours over the alleged conflict of interest.  The party said that if she fails to resign, the case would be put before one of the party’s disciplinary organs.

In a statement, the Nationalist Party said that general secretary Michael Piccino has written to the party's disciplimary and ethics commission to open an investigation into the matter.

This was done after the Naxxar mayor did not resign.

The party said it had given guidelines to the mayor to vote against the project.

The PN said it expected the highest standards from its representatives.