PN government awarded former candidate €890,000 in legal contracts
Former PN candidate Georg Sapiano received over €890,000 in legal contracts by successive PN administrations.
Lawyer and former PN candidate Georg Sapiano's firms received €890,000 in legal contracts from six ministries over the last few years.
Answers provided by ministers in Parliament show that Sapiano and his legal firm have benefitted from a series of contracts awarded by the Nationalist government, totalling over €890,000. The contracts were awarded to the lawyer's firms Sapiano & Associates and Aequitas Legal, with a number of other contracts going to Sapiano himself.
Most contracts were awarded by direct order, however transport minister Joe Mizzi said that the there was no information whether the contracts awarded to Sapiano and his firm by Transport Malta, worth over €333,000, were given by direct order or tender.
In 2010 alone, Transport Malta awarded the lawyer's firm €131,504. Sapiano has in the past represented the Association of Car Importers.
Over a span of 10 years between 2002 and 2012, Sapiano received €243,010 by the Occupational Health and Safety Authority and over €113,000 by direct order by the Water Services Corporation between 2000 and 2006.
Sapiano's firms also received a number of contracts by the Prime Minister's Office and by social services agencies such as Appogg and Sedqa.
The questions about Sapiano's contracts were posed to all ministers and although most ministers said that agencies and departments under their responsibility had not awarded any contracts to Sapiano's firms, the lawyer still received a sizeable amount from siz ministries.
The flamboyant and successful lawyer, known for being driven around in a luxurious BMW similar to that of the President of the Republic, was an articulate TV presenter on NET and PBS before contesting the general election on the PN ticket in 2008.
However he only managed to garner 58 first count votes and later complained about the spending spree by other Nationalist candidates in their campaigns.