Tista’ taqra dan l-artiklu bil-Malti hawn.
TEC, the events the company that handles logistics for Labour’s mass events, was issued with as many as 20 direct orders in just one day by Transport Malta in connection with the launch of Ian Borg’s ‘Malta Metro’ proposal, according to a new list of direct orders published in the government gazette.
The list of contracts awarded by Transport Malta last year, when it was still controlled by Ian Borg, shows that 20 different direct orders were issued on 8 November, 2021, ranging from a value of €7,000 to €46,000. The promotion included a tent at the entrance to Valletta in the weeks leading up to the general elections.
All marked as ‘Malta Metro’ – a general term used by TM to avoid giving specific details of what each direct order was about – the 20 direct orders had a total value of €424,000.
Direct orders given to TEC Ltd on 8 November – Part 1
Direct orders given to TEC Ltd on 8 November – Part 2
While the main event to launch the ‘Malta Metro’ proposal was held on 2 October 2021, all the direct orders were approved and issued a month later, indicating that Transport Malta and ministry officials had doled out these contracts to the company belonging to Charles Magro before they’d obtained the required approval.
The information published in the Government Gazette also jars with information Minister Ian Borg supplied to parliament.
On the same day that the 20 direct orders obtained the approval of the finance ministry (8 November 2021), Minister Borg, at the time responsible for Transport Malta, told parliament that the cost of the launch of the metro proposal had cost the government €77,000.
In a breakdown of the costs mentioned in parliament and obtained by The Shift, none of the 20 direct orders given to TEC were included.
PQ in which Ian Borg was asked to give information about Metro Malta costs
Instead, another direct order awarded to TEC was mentioned, where taxpayers forked out €26,000 for the hiring of a tent.
It is not known yet what services were provided via the 20 different direct orders.
Other payments mentioned by the minister were €4,750 to iCreate Ltd (another company owned by Magro) for printing, €300 for PBS board director, TV presenter and Water Services spokesman Pablo Micallef for compering the launch event, €2,320 to Busy Bee for refreshments, €15,390 to PR agency Pure Concepts and €18,557 to iLab for picture frames.
According to the data available so far, the publicity around the proposal has already cost taxpayers over half a million euro.
Minister Ian Borg, who has a reputation for doling out multi-million euro contracts and direct orders, was removed from the lucrative infrastructure ministry after the recent general elections and was instead appointed foreign affairs minister – traditionally a low-budget ministry with no responsibility for capital projects.
Robbing hoods – taking from the taxpayer to give to the favoured few.
Offensive as it is, a British MP is quite correctly forced to resign for watching porn on his mobile phone.
Compare how Malta treats its offensive MPs and Ministers responsible for “ stealing” millions from the state coffers to feather their own and their “friends’. “ nests.
They are rewarded with “ golden” severance packages when dismissed, thinking Joseph Muscat and Justyne Caruana as just 2 examples, or moved sideways into cosy other positions a la Joseph Cuschieri and Edward Scicluna , or then co-opted back into Parliament as Rosianne Cutajar as the most recent example.
Konrad Mizzi was allowed by the Speaker to make a mockery of the Parliamentary inquiry into his role in the Electrogas scandal.
And so it goes in… impunity guaranteed and the perpetrators know full well that nothing will derail the invincibility of the protection afforded to them as long as they keep their mouths shut.
A national disgrace!
So we can safely say that, under Ian Borg’s Transport Malta, 424K Euros went, figuratively, and in a way literally, down the tubes in one day.
My God, how quickly as here the Maltese coffers are plundered! Under the direction and patronage of ROBBER Abela, the activities of the Political Looters (= PL Malta) have been perfected.
Since the stately TV’s are in their hands, they hardly need to hide.
On the contrary, greed seems almost a prerequisite to get into government.
Shameful!
One more personal question for Mr. Ian Borg:
At what scale should the metro be built:
1 : 100 or or rather 1 : 1000.
I bet 1 : 1000, because it must not be too expensive and more money is available for “personal purposes”. Correct?
One should investigate the procurement methods used by Transport Malta and who and how these are approved to bypass the systems and regulations. Certain suppliers than keep chasing their due payments for months!
It seems that replies to PQs are not even reliable anymore.