TM ‘hid’ €104,000 in consultancy contracts issued by Kurt Farrugia to Keith Fenech

Transport Malta hid consultancy contracts awarded to Keith Fenech, disclosing a single €10,000 agreement while telling The Shift it had fully accepted a request for all his contracts. A parliamentary reply has since revealed payments totalling €104,000.

Challenged over the missing documents, chief executive Leonid McKay, who replaced Kurt Farrugia, suggested The Shift should have asked again, without explaining why contracts available when the authority answered were not supplied.

The Shift sought the documents after being informed in July 2025 that Fenech – a former government CEO who also runs a private business – had been engaged as a consultant to advise then-Transport Malta CEO Kurt Farrugia.

Sources described a €10,000-a-month arrangement and alleged the two men were close friends. They said the consultancy was a favour intended to give Fenech a job after his private-sector employment was ended.

To establish the terms, The Shift requested “a copy of ALL contracts related to Mr Keith Fenech”.

Transport Malta failed to answer within the statutory 20-working-day deadline, in breach of the law. The Shift sent a reminder in December 2025.

The authority finally replied in January 2026, declaring the request had been accepted in full. Yet it provided only a two-month contract worth €10,000.

Other contracts existed by the time Transport Malta issued that response. They were not disclosed.

A parliamentary reply to Nationalist MP Julian Borg has now disclosed that Fenech received €104,000 between July 2025 and August 2026 for consultancy services to the chief executive. It remains unclear whether the engagement continues.

The total exceeds ten times the disclosed agreement’s value, although it does not establish a fixed monthly rate.

Fenech previously faced scrutiny for simultaneously serving as INDIS Malta CEO and consulting for Methode Electronics, a client of the agency. The Shift obtained written authorisation permitting the private work, subject to recusal from Methode matters. Officials defended the arrangement despite the conflict-of-interest concerns.

Asked about the missing contracts, McKay replied: “We would like to clarify that, at the time the information was requested from Transport Malta (TM), only one contract was in force.”

“Subsequently, no further follow-up was made with TM to ascertain whether any additional contracts or relevant documentation had become available.”

McKay did not identify the additional agreements, their dates or values. His response also failed to address the December reminder.

Kurt Farrugia – a former aide to disgraced former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was removed as CEO in June 2026 by Minister Chris Bonett. The Shift reported that he was informed while holidaying in Monaco with businessmen linked to Transport Malta contracts. He was soon placed as CEO of another government authority despite having no experience in the sector.

At TM, he was replaced by McKay, Labour’s former chief executive.

Transport Malta has still not explained why it supplied only one agreement while claiming full disclosure, or why other contracts available by January were omitted.