Malita imposes information blackout

Malita Investments, the state-owned company established to finance social housing projects, has imposed a blackout on access to information about its operations, rejecting Freedom of Information requests amid growing concerns over claimed mismanagement and abuse of public funds.

The company, which is majority owned by the Maltese state and has struggled with liquidity problems that have delayed key housing projects, said disclosure of senior management contracts and board payments was “not in the public interest, according to responses given to The Shift.

The refusals come under the leadership of Malita’s new chair, Marvin Gaerty, a former revenue commissioner, and chief executive Amanda Desira, an architect appointed to the role of CEO. The company declined to release details of remuneration packages for its executives or payments made to directors over recent years.

Malita’s board includes several government-appointed figures, among them Victor Carachi, president of the General Workers’ Union; Miguel Borg, a former chief risk officer at Bank of Valletta; and Tania Brown, a former senior official at the Finance Ministry.

All were selected by Affordable Housing Minister Roderick Galdes to represent the government’s interests.

The Shift has previously revealed that while Malita’s finances deteriorated to the point that it was forced to suspend three social housing projects, the board approved a 16% increase in directors’ honoraria.

The company has also refused to disclose payments made to XYZ Ltd, an architectural firm co-owned by Daniel Micallef, a former deputy leader of the Labour Party, which was awarded a direct order to design a housing project in Bormla. The project, originally due for completion three years ago, remains unfinished and is among those halted after Malita ran out of cash.

Despite the massive delays, the firm has already been paid hundreds of thousands of euros, according to Malita sources. The architectural company is understood to have submitted numerous design changes during the course of the project, generating additional fees charged to Malita over several years.

In rejecting the information request, Malita argued that it was not in the public interest for shareholders – including the Maltese public, which owns 80% of the company – to know how much the company had been paid.

The information blackout coincides with a similar stance adopted by Minister Galdes, who has also declined to release details related to the appointment of former Malita chair Johan Farrugia and his abrupt resignation.

Farrugia stepped down shortly after his predecessor, former Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi, publicly accused the minister of interfering in Malita’s operations and maintaining close relationships with contractors.

Subsequent reporting revealed that Minister Galdes had engaged in private business dealings with some contractors awarded multi-million-euro contracts by Malita and other entities within his ministry, including the acquisition of property at below-market prices.

Since joining the Labour government, the minister has accumulated a substantial portfolio of real estate in Malta and abroad, circumstances that opposition figures and civil society groups have called opaque.

Despite calls for his dismissal, Prime Minister Robert Abela has defended Minister Galdes and has taken no action against him.