Election-eve hospital publicity cost €250,000 – irregular direct orders handed to companies with common owners

St Vincent de Paul, at the time under the direction of Parliamentary Secretary Malcolm Agius Paul Galea, dished out almost €250,000 on publicity, media production and event management for the launch of a new intermediate-care hospital project, using three ‘irregular’ direct orders involving companies with common owners.

The direct orders were approved on 14 and 15 April – on the day of the event or after it had taken place – according to information published in the Government Gazette.

The timing raises questions over how services could have been commissioned and delivered before the expenditure was formally approved, as well as why an event announced by the prime minister had to be treated as an urgent procurement exercise.

Government records show that St Vincent de Paul awarded €95,261 to Market Link Ltd for media-buying and planning services connected with the project.

A second direct order, worth €65,000, went to Malta Daily publisher Thirteen Media Ltd for “full production services” relating to the 60 Plus Intermediate Care Hospital campaign.

G7 Services Ltd received another €89,500 for press-conference and event-management services at St Vincent de Paul.

Together, the three direct orders cost taxpayers €249,761.

They were awarded without an open competitive tender and were divided among three companies with common shareholders and beneficial owners. The companies also operate from the same registered address at ML7 Business Centre in Mrieħel.

G7 Services is the company behind the government-backed Isle of MTV event, for which it has received millions over the past years.

The publicity accompanied Prime Minister Robert Abela’s April 14^th announcement of a tender for Sir Temi Zammit Hospital, a proposed 300-bed intermediate-care facility at St Vincent de Paul. The government valued the hospital project at €1.3 billion and said it should be completed within three years.

At the time, St Vincent de Paul fell under the direct political responsibility of parliamentary secretary for active ageing Malcolm Paul Agius Galea. He was promoted to Minister for Arts, Culture and National Heritage following the election.

The orders were issued shortly before the official electoral campaign, raising further questions about the use of public funds for government publicity on the eve of an election.

It is not known whether the three beneficiary companies were also involved in providing services to Agius Galea’s personal electoral campaign or that of the Labour Party.

Responding to questions from The Shift, St Vincent de Paul said a call-for-quotations process had been issued to at least three suppliers listed in the government’s Corporate Financial Management System.

“The three-day timeframe was due to the urgency of the requirement and the limited time available to conclude the procurement process,” it said, without explaining what created that urgency or why the event could not have been planned earlier.

The entity insisted that the direct orders went to “three different suppliers and not to the same companies”.

The response does not address the common ownership and shared address of the three nominally separate suppliers. Neither does it establish how many independent economic operators competed for each order.

Asked about the €89,500 allocated to organise a press conference, St Vincent de Paul said it would need to consult a detailed expenditure breakdown before providing an accurate explanation.

It claimed the amount covered various services connected with the event, rather than the press conference alone, but did not provide the breakdown.