The court has struck down a €12 million contract for the management of Zammit Clapp Hospital that the government awarded to Golden Care Ltd, a company owned by developer Paul Attard of GAP Group.

Presided by the Chief Justice, the Court of Appeal said that the government’s interpretation of the tender’s rules, which benefitted Attard, was incorrect.

Accepting the challenge instituted by rival company CareMalta Ltd, owned by Vassallo Group, the Court ordered the award of the tender to be cancelled and the department of contracts to assign it according to the court’s decision.

This means that Vassallo Group, led by Zaren Vassallo, which has been managing the government’s elderly residence since its opening in 2012, will now be assigned the four-year contract for a price of €12.7 million.

Issued at the end of 2021, the tender stipulated that only those with experience in the sector for the previous three years (2018, 2019 and 2020) could submit their bids.

The tender was assigned to Golden Care as it submitted the cheapest offer of €11.9 million, some €900,000 less than the one submitted by CareMalta.

Yet Vassallo Group immediately cried foul and appealed the decision, saying its rival could not have experience covering 2018 as the company was only set up in 2019.

The Public Contracts Review Board (PCRB), which considers first appeals, still decided against Vassallo Group, insisting that the interpretation related to any experience during the three years and not for the whole three years.

After appealing again in court, CareMalta’s grievances were upheld. The court insisted that both the government’s adjudication panel and the PCRB board misinterpreted the rules.

The Court said the Active Ageing Minister’s argument would mean that any company with only a few days of experience in those three years would be eligible. This was ridiculous, the court insisted.

Paul Attard, the secretary general of the Malta Developers Association and a shareholder in the mega-construction group GAP, has been hitting the headlines recently connected to another questionable tender.

Together with Paul Vella, known as tal-Ballut, Attard owns a company that was given the right of first refusal to purchase a parcel of public land in Mellieha. Despite objections, it appears this green lung in Mellieha will be developed into flats.

The tender issued by the Lands Authority appears to be specifically designed to accommodate Attard and his company. The area has been left untouched for years and is home to endemic plants.

The Shift has also revealed how Lands Minister Silvio Schembri uses an apartment in Luqa as his constituency office in a block built by Attard.

The minister does not own the office but refuses to say whether Attard is letting him use his property for free.

Schembri is currently under investigation by the Standards Commissioner.