Accused kidnapper Christian Borg poised to win deal to supply cars to the judiciary

Tista’ taqra dan l-artiklu bil-Malti hawn.

All of Malta’s judges and magistrates may soon be being driven around in cars owned by Christian Borg – the car dealer and close friend of Prime Minister Robert Abela – who is currently facing charges of kidnapping and under police investigation over drug dealing and money laundering rackets.

The Shift has learned that the Court Services Agency, the entity that administers the court, is set to assign Princess Operations Ltd a €2.5 million contract for the lease of 48 plug-in hybrid cars to be used by members of the judiciary and their families over the next five years.

Following the issue of a tender last May, three companies applied to supply cars to the judiciary. Although the market value of the deal was estimated by the court at €3.1 million, the company owned by Borg, Princess Operations, was able to place a bid for just €2.5 million, putting it in pole position to win the tender.

Court sources told The Shift that while the tender is still under evaluation, “it is most likely that the alleged accused criminal will soon be owning the judges’ cars”. 

“Many members of the judiciary are not very happy with the situation and are putting pressure to stop this nonsense,” the sources said.

Princess Operations was allowed to bid for the tender, issued last month, even though Borg, its owner, is facing serious criminal charges. 

Following his arraignment in court last January, Borg resigned as director of his companies and hired Joe Camenzuli – a Labour insider and official photographer of the Party – in his stead.

Apart from the ongoing charges over kidnapping, Borg is reportedly under investigation over various alleged criminal rackets including drug dealing and money laundering. The 29-year-old has accumulated a multi-million-euro personal asset portfolio.

He was convicted of tampering with car licence plates in 2015 and of perjury last year. 

Still, his companies, which also included the ‘Goldcar’ rental franchise and now the ‘Sicily by Car’ franchise, were on the receiving end of multi-million-euro government contracts and direct orders, particularly from Transport Malta and LESA – the traffic warden agency.

Following his arraignment, it emerged that Borg was one of Prime Minister Robert Abela’s clients and that the accused criminal regarded Abela as one of his best friends.

It was also revealed that Abela went into business with the same accused criminal over a property deal in Zabbar through which the prime minister made €45,000. Abela never explained the reason for this deal, which was made when he was the Planning Authority’s legal counsel. 

Sources told The Shift that apart from the scandal of having members of the judiciary driven around in cars belonging to an alleged criminal – “something normally associated with the Mafia abroad,” the tender contravenes government environmental policy.

Only last week, Minister Miriam Dalli said that no more subsidies will be given for plug-in hybrid cars, as only fully electric cars will help to further cut emissions and meet Malta’s challenging climate change goals.

However, despite this government policy declaration, the same administration is now set to spend at least €2.5 million of taxpayers’ funds on cars that don’t conform to its pro-environment policy.