Alleged kidnapper loses appeal over suspension of Goldcar licence

Alleged kidnapper Christian Borg has lost an appeal against Transport Malta over the suspension of the public service garage licence for his Goldcar franchise.

Borg, who holds various businesses in car-hire and construction, was in January 2022 arrested with five of his associates, charged with the abduction and assault of the man, threatening to have his fingers cut off and his sister raped. All six are currently out on bail.

On 17 January 2019, Transport Malta suspended the license for Princess Garage, owned by Borg, with immediate effect, after the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority and other authorities received “numerous, repeated and extremely serious complaints of malpractice” from clients who hired a car from Goldcar. TM had told Borg that the clients had “felt aggrieved, abused, swindled or cheated by your car hire agency”.

Under this permit, Princess Garage used to lease cars under the international franchises “Goldcar” and “Rhodium”, as part of a Master Franchise Agreement with Goldcar Master SL of Spain. It had a licence to operate a fleet of 1,145 vehicles.

In February 2019, Borg appealed the decision, arguing that the decision was “unfounded” and that it had been taken without prior notice. He also stated that the allegations were “vague” and that no “misconduct or negligence” were ever proven. The Administrative Review Tribunal rejected the appeal.

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Transport Malta said that action was taken, as although commitments were made by the company to end certain “malpractices”, it still “failed completely from honouring the undertaking to operate in a proper, professional and correct manner”.

The Consumer Affairs Directorate confirmed that it had notified Borg about various shortcomings and had explained to him that the complaints were giving Malta a “bad name”. It also stated that only a few complaints had been resolved.

It also emerged that way back in 2016 Transport Malta had already sent a suspension notice to Borg, however for some reason this was never followed through, as complaints continued to be filed.

“The claimant [Christian Borg] was well aware that there were several problems in his operation, both because the MCCAA was drawing his attention, and also because his representatives were attending meetings with officials of the respondent Authority and his legal counsel,” the tribunal noted.

It also said that it did not believe Borg when saying that he was not aware about the meetings held.

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“While the claimant testified that he did not know about these meetings this Tribunal is not convinced that he was telling the truth. While it is possible that the claimant was not present at these meetings, he certainly knew about the various complaints that were coming to the Authorities over a period of time and he continued not to take any serious action in order to be addressed.”

It also said that the MCCAA had issued an Investigation Order against Borg in September 2018. “In the opinion of the Tribunal, the claimant was well aware that the situation was complicated and continued to persist in his behaviour without giving satisfactory remedies for the justified complaints that were being made […] Therefore this Tribunal finds that this appeal is not justified.”

It said that the complaints were “repetitive” and “persisted for a number of years”.

“This means that the claimant had no interest in rectifying his shortcomings, in order to reduce the complaints. In comparison to the high number of complaints, only a few were seriously addressed by the claimant.”

The Tribunal also said that licence suspension was justified, in order to avoid “irreparable damages” to Malta’s reputation.

In 2020, the Goldcar franchise in Malta was acquired by Alpine Rent A Car Ltd, a sister brand of Europcar Malta.

Borg keeps securing public tenders

Despite Transport Malta suspending the licence for Borg’s former Goldcar franchise, last April it awarded a 41-vehicle tender to his company, Princess Operations, valued at around €250,000.

Princess Operations Ltd had been registered by Christian Borg on 22 May 2018. Amidst the turmoil surrounding Borg in relation to the abduction, Borg resigned from director of the company, ceding it to former Labour Party photographer Joseph Camenzuli.

In January, Princess Operations also won a 24-car tender with the Local Enforcement System Agency (LESA).

The same company also is currently poised to secure a €2.5 million contract with the Court Services Agency, for the rental of 48 plug-in hybrid cars, to be used by members of the judiciary and their families. The bid is currently being vetted.

Borg has close ties to the Labour Party, with Prime Minister Robert Abela serving as one of Borg’s legal advisors in the past, even appearing on a property assignment of rights in a deal that has been criticised by the Opposition.

Through another one of his companies, called Princess Holdings, Borg also holds a franchise agreement with Italian car hire company, Sicily By Car.

Borg also owns a car hire showroom, No Deposit Cars Malta in Qormi and was until recently operating another one in Burmarrad, Easy Finance Motor House. A considerable number of customers of both showrooms, had explained to MaltaToday that their bank accounts were frozen by garnishee orders, after stopping repayments for what they claim were damaged cars.

In the past, he was also behind the Green Motion car hire franchise in Malta, but the international franchise later terminated the contract, saying that the attitude and treatment of the customers, became “intolerable”.