Environment Minister Jose’ Herrera on Wednesday admitted he had not run any due diligence on a beach clean-up NGO now facing allegations of fraud, but he insisted it had not received any public financing from his ministry.
The clean-up project has come under fire after media reports that local companies had sponsored the White Flag “plastic free” beaches to the tune of some €25,000 each with nothing to show for it.
According to the reports, published on The Shift, the project has been sponsored by the private sector and some government ministries.
Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi, the shadow environment minister, has also filed a Parliamentary question asking Dr Herrera how much taxpayers’ money had been given to the White Flag beach clean-up project.
Asked about this on Wednesday, Dr Herrera told Times of Malta he had communicated with the organisation following the media reports and had been informed that they were evaluating their legal options on the matter.
He said that his ministry had not entered into any contractual obligations with the White Flag project, but had endorsed “the concept” of clearing beaches of plastic.
Dr Herrera said he attended repeated White Flag…
