Labour’s organising secretary William Lewis, one of the ruling party’s most senior figures, was given six new direct orders by Infrastructure Malta during the first six months of the year, according to new data published in the Government Gazette.

An architect who shares a VAT number with Daniel Micallef, who was until a few weeks ago Labour’s Deputy Leader, Lewis was able to cash in some €130,000 in just six months through his company Crowd Net Ltd which he owns together with his wife, Odette Lewis.

Lewis has been on the gravy train of Infrastructure Malta’s direct orders for the past years, always given work connected with roads.

This time, Lewis’s company has been tasked with taking traffic counts on various roads across the country and working on the pedestrianisation project of Xatt is-Sajjieda in Marsaxlokk.

In the past years, Infrastructure Malta has paid the Labour official’s company millions in addition to the work he has carried out on behalf of other government entities.

139 direct orders worth €21 million

The newly published data for the first six months of this year reconfirms the roads agency’s uninterrupted practice of dishing out millions in works to friendly contractors, bypassing procurement rules, and misusing public funds.

In an innovative way to avoid tendering processes, government entities are now using Infrastructure Malta to issue direct orders on their behalf.

Enemalta, which this year has the repeated excuse of urgent works required to lay cables in an attempt to avoid further power cuts occurring across the islands, was the entity for which some of the juiciest direct orders were issued.

Through Infrastructure Malta, Schembri Infrastructures Ltd, known as Tad-Dobbu, was given a €4.1 million contract to lay cables in Luqa and Marsa, while Asfaltar Ltd of Paul Magro got another direct order for cable laying in Qormi and Luqa worth €3.3 million.

V&C Contractors Ltd, owned by Vince Borg, better known as Ċensu n-Nizz, also received millions for various projects.

It is an open secret that road and infrastructure contractors are among those who finance the two main political parties, mostly the one which happens to be in government.

Jonathan Borg, the CEO of Transport Malta until last February when he was sacked by Minister Chris Bonett as soon as he became Roads Minister, did not waste any time in emergeing on the government’s direct orders list.

Through his company, Bluhull Marine Agency Ltd, which he kept even when he occupied the top post of Transport Malta (responsible for the maritime sector), Borg received two direct orders. A €310,000 contract for a fendering system at Pinto and Lascaris wharfs and a €36,000 job to install rubber fenders at the Marfa breakwater.

Until a few weeks ago, Infrastructure Malta was directed by Gozitan Ivan Falzon. He has now been replaced by failed MEP Labour candidate Steve Ellul.