Judges force prime minister to cancel cars tender slated for accused kidnapper

Pressure by several members of the judiciary, including senior judges and magistrates, has led to the cancellation of a multi-million-euro tender slated for a company owned by Christian Borg, who is accused of kidnapping, among a series of crimes being investigated.

The Shift is informed that the €3 million contract this news portal revealed was set for Borg to supply members of the judiciary with hybrid plug-in cars for the next five years has been cancelled by the Department of Contracts following orders from the Office of the Prime Minister.

The contract was to be signed between the Court Services Agency and Princess Operations Ltd after the company filed the lowest bid for the tender.

The company’s owner, Christian Borg, is a convicted criminal also currently facing charges of kidnapping in a case being heard by a judge for whom the accused would have provided a car.

Borg is also being investigated for his alleged involvement in drug dealing and money laundering rackets.

Court sources said that following reports by The Shift that the tender was set for Borg’s company, members of the judiciary openly expressed their opposition to such a move. Some also wrote to Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti to express their views.

The sources said that members of the judiciary made it clear to the Chief Justice that they would be “very uncomfortable” with this deal and would refuse to use the cars if these were supplied by the alleged kidnapper’s company.

Faced with this situation, the OPM instructed the Court Services Agency to drop the offer.

The company with the second bid, Fremond Ltd, owned by Anthony Meli, was also informed that it could not be assigned the tender as its offer was found to be non-compliant. The tender was therefore cancelled.

It is as yet unclear whether the government will be issuing a fresh call in the coming months.

Sources close to the judiciary told The Shift that it would have been “ridiculous to use a company whose owner is accused of serious crimes to supply cars to judges and magistrates.”

They said that this was also dangerous from a security point of view.

While Prime Minister Robert Abela first tried to defend the tender, saying the call followed tender procedures, he was later forced to back down.

Although Christian Borg was arraigned last January, his company was still allowed to bid for the tender in May.

Borg had resigned from all his positions of director of his companies and placed in his stead his friend, Joe Camenzuli – the official photographer of the Labour Party.

According to court proceedings, the 29-year-old has already accumulated a multi-million-euro personal asset portfolio that cannot be explained.

Counting the prime minister as one of his personal friends, Borg had even entered into a partnership with Robert Abela over a property deal in Zabbar through which the Prime Minster made €45,000.

The Borg-Abela business venture happened when Abela acted as legal counsel to the Planning Authority through a multi-million-euro direct order.