Latest update- 1745
Times of Malta says that the Valletta and Victoria local councils are in dire financial straits, the National Audit Office (NAO) has found.
MaltaToday says that A court has been told how a man accused of a shooting in Iklin had admitted to the crime immediately and that the Police had also arrested the victim, whilst he was still in hospital, after receiving information that he had been trying to solicit money in exchange for changing his version of events in the investigation.
Newsbook says that Former President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca is among the signatories of a petition calling on Parliament to amend the cannabis reform bill before it is given its seal of approval.
TVM says that the Public Service said that almost 98% of cases concluded with the Ombudsman last year resulted that it acted well and the cases were resolved, while recommendations were immediately implemented.
Mid-Day Briefing
Doctors want government to settle industrial dispute: The doctors’ union has given the government an ultimatum to settle an industrial dispute with the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN). The union had instructed phlebotomists, workers who draw patients’ blood, to follow its directives due to a new sectoral agreement. The phlebotomists were ordered to limit the number of patients they see every day and also to stop outsourcing work or tackle waiting lists. Doctors have stepped in to draw blood from patients in urgent cases. The doctors’ union has now given hospital management an undisclosed ultimatum to ensure patients are not placed in harm’s way.
Energy audit shambles in building and construction agency: An inspection by the National Audit Office has revealed weak controls and inexistent audit trails on energy performance certificates for properties and permits issued by the Planning Authority. Malta’s Building and Construction Agency is still working on the planning permits for properties filed in 2017, but it cannot establish whether all permits have been backed up by a mandatory energy performance certificate (EPC). The BCA has to issue EPCs, a rating of a building’s energy efficiency. The EPC – since 2012 obligatory for all new-builds, rentals and transfers – is produced after a professional assessment by a warranted architect or engineer.
Covid-19 Update: A total of 86 new daily cases were reported today while 63 people recovered. 22 people are being treated in hospital, 3 of whom are in the ITU.
Morning Briefing
NAO finds missing data in voucher probe
The National Audit Office revealed it had encountered “significant problems” when auditing its investigation into the first round of COVID-19 vouchers, which cost the government €45 million, adding that it could not even complete the report because data was missing or incomplete.
The NAO’s own attempt to reconcile the vouchers issued with those redeemed proved “futile”, a new report, published Monday, has revealed.
The NAO said its audit of the scheme was inconclusive, primarily because of incomplete data on the number of vouchers issued and redeemed, and also because of the processing of payments to merchants long after the expiration of the scheme. “Since data continued to change, attempts to carry out reconciliations proved futile. NAO could not reconcile the number of vouchers issued to the aggregate payments made to the merchants and the remaining unclaimed vouchers,” the audit office said. (Times of Malta)
LESA CEO refutes claims that contraventions can be cancelled
The CEO LESA, Svetlick Flores, said that the agency’s system does not allow traffic contraventions to be cancelled. Referring to a Times of Malta story which alleged that a number of citations were cancelled, Flores explained that every amendment on a contravention is registered and audited. “A citation cannot be erased, and in no way can a ticket be cancelled. Every process remains recorded and audited. Even when you pay a fine this is not cancelled but it is marked that there is nothing pending on it. It’s the same when someone submits a petition. The contravention remains there and it is marked whether the petition has been upheld or not.”
Covid-19 Update: 81 new coronavirus cases were reported on Monday, while 61 patients have recovered, increasing the active case tally to 1,313. 22 persons are currently hospitalised, three of whom in ITU.
