Fight over Evans Building concession heads to court as appeals loom

The battle over the controversial 65-year concession of the Evans Building in Valletta is set to escalate into a fresh legal showdown, with at least two competing consortia preparing to challenge a recent ruling by the Public Contracts Review Board (PCRB) in the Court of Appeal.

Sources have confirmed to The Shift that Valletta Luxury Projects (VLP) and Iconic Hotels Malta – Nobu (IHM) are expected to file appeals in the coming days, effectively stalling the final award of the lucrative public concession.

The latest developments follow a PCRB decision that reshaped the outcome of the tender process, disqualifying two of the three bidders vying to transform the historic building into a five-star hotel.

The ruling leaves Katari Hospitality, a consortium linked to developer Paul Attard, as the sole remaining frontrunner, at least for now. However, with legal challenges imminent, the process is once again mired in uncertainty.

The PCRB’s ruling itself marked a significant blow to the government, concluding that the original award of the concession to VLP was “vitiated” and must be cancelled.

The consortium, formed by the Decesare family of Eden Leisure and Iniala Hotel owner Mark Weingard, had initially been selected as the preferred bidder. But the Board found that its financial proposal contained a critical error that should have led to its immediate disqualification.

According to the decision, VLP submitted a concession value of just €1.2 million, rather than the €78 million it claimed to have intended. The Board ruled that this discrepancy was not a minor clerical mistake but a fundamental flaw that rendered the bid non-compliant.

Despite this, the consortium had been awarded the project by the government’s evaluation committee.

Investigations by The Shift had previously revealed concerns about the validity of VLP’s bid, with sources indicating that the decision to award the concession had been influenced by directives from the Office of the Prime Minister.

While the PCRB cancelled the award to VLP, it stopped short of annulling the entire tender. Instead, it ordered that the remaining bids be reassessed by a newly appointed evaluation committee.

In the same ruling, the Board confirmed the disqualification of another bidder, Iconic Hotels Malta – Nobu, a consortium involving the European School of English and Arrigo Group of Hotels Ltd.

While this leaves Attard’s Katari Hospitality in pole position, he has already filed his own objection to the original award, challenging the selection of VLP.

The PCRB upheld Attard’s objections, as well as arguments made by the European School of English against VLP’s inclusion in the process.

The Evans Building tender has been dogged by controversy since its launch in 2022.

Industry insiders had raised concerns early on that the concession was effectively earmarked for the Decesare family’s Eden Leisure Group. These concerns intensified when financial bids were opened, revealing the stark discrepancy in VLP’s offer. Yet instead of disqualifying the bid, the evaluation committee declared it the winner.