Dar tal-Providenza to carry out verification of €500,000 Catco donation

The Catholic respite centre for the disabled Id-Dar tal-Providenza has requested further documentation on a surprise pledge of €500,000 by the Tunisia-based Catco Group Capital Investment.

The donation was formally announced by former Opposition leader Adrian Delia, who appeared at the New Year’s Day fundraiser on Friday, announcing both a €27,000 donation he had collected with his team, and the Catco half-million pledge.

In a statement on Saturday, Id-Dar tal-Providenza said that as part of regulatory requirements, it would not only rely on documentation provided by the company, but that it would carry out its own verification process before accepting such a donation. “Acceptance of the donation is subject to the Home’s internal verification process,” the home said in an official statement.

“In line with approved policies of the Archdiocese of Malta, cash donations above €5,000 and other donations and pledges above €10,000 from individuals and companies are subject to a vetting process,” the home said.

“Id-Dar tal-Providenza would like to thank the general public for its outstanding generosity in the annual Festa ta’ Ġenerożità fundraising marathon organised on New Year’s Day. These donations will be the lifeline support which the Home needs for it to continue providing professional services to the residents especially during these trying times.”

Adrian Delia credited Jeffrey Farrugia, the former footballer now turned Sliema Wanderers president, as having introduced him to the opportunity to work with Catco Group, which is the new sponsor of Sliema Wanderers F.C., of which Farrugia is now its president.

Farrugia was recently a team manager with most major Premier League clubs. Catco’s chairman is Fisal Abdullah Alokla, who has also been appointed chairman of the Sliema Wanderers club. The Tunisian-based company is a player in oil, gas and the automotive industry in the Middle East, Africa, and the Gulf States.

The donation sent the €1.5 million collected up until then to a whopping €2 million, with an emotional Delia shedding tears as he beckoned others to follow suit. “This group of companies has also told me that this is not a one-off, but that it wants to create a structure in which the Dar tal-Providenza can bank on a regular donation,” Delia said, saying that the Catco chairman was following the live broadcast.

Fr Martin Micallef, director of the Siggiewi institution, said he was moved by the solidarity of the donors, which altogether had contributed a total €2,531,540 to Dar tal-Providenza, which provides residential services to 115 persons with disability.