The Chairman of the Parliament of Malta's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), PN MP Darren Carabott, said during Wednesday's plenary session that the Malta Film Commission has refused to disclose information requested by the PAC, which is looking into how €7.2 million were spent by the government entity.
The Public Accounts Committee asked the Malta Film Commission last February, eight months ago, to answer how the €7.2 million it received by the central government between 2019 and 2022 to upgrade its infrastructure was spent. This questioning came following the publication of an NAO report in November 2024 which flagged that only €2.4 million from this total was spent, leaving €4.8 million unaccounted for as deferred income on the Malta Film Commission's accounts.
Despite this, the NAO had stated in its report that the Malta Film Commission had only declared €1.2 million in current assets plus some €800,000 in cash through its bank accounts, thus leaving question marks over the remaining €4 million.
Carabott said that to investigate what the National Audit Office marked in its report late last year, the PAC had requested the Malta Film Commission to provide documents confirming the dates of payment, considerations, who was paid, and a copy of all invoices vis-à-vis this €7.2 million.
Since requesting this information near the start of 2025, the Malta Film Commission has responded by sending the PAC a breakdown of its amounts and its reference number, though the rest of the sought information was not provided.
The PAC Chairperson told the Speaker of the House of Representatives on Wednesday that the Malta Film Commission has recently informed the PAC that it will not be disclosing the remaining information requested by the parliamentary committee.
Carabott asked Speaker Farrugia how his Committee should proceed in light of this non-collaboration and restricted information.
Amidst these developments, several communications were sent to the Clerk of the House. Carabott informed that the respective permanent secretary has been advised about these updates as well.