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MCA board member asked to resign after submitting tender for authority contract
The Malta Communications Authority has asked one of its own board members to resign after submitting a bid for a tender issued by MCA.
16 October 2011, 12:00am
Julia Farrugia
Julia Farrugia
1 min read
Updated 18 October at 12:57pm with MCA clarification.
The Malta Communications Authority has confirmed that one of its board members, Marcel Cutajar, was asked to resign after submitting a bid for a tender issued by the same authority, in the name of a company he is directly involved with.
Sunday newspaper Illum reports that Cutajar is the same person being investigated by the Police over other allegations concerning a €1.8 million contract issued by MCAST.
The MCA has told MaltaToday that Cutajar resigned immediately upon being requested to do so and that the bid in question was withdrawn and this particular bidder had to forgo the bid bond.
The MCA also said that Cutajar had a 7% share in a consortium that submitted a bid in response to the tender issued by the MCA. "It is incorrect to state that 'Marcel Cutajar was asked to resign after submitting a bid for a tender issued by the same authority, in the name of a company he is directly involved with'. In this particular tender, the MCA decided it was not ethical for a board member (whatever his participation quota) to participate in a tender issued by same authority and police involvement was not necessary."
Investments, Transport and Communications minister Minister Austin Gatt - who is responsible for the Communications Authority - did not pass on the case over to the police for investigation, whilst the tender itself was not annulled or withdrawn.
Cutajar is a director of Key Services, which provides IT consulting and network management..
Julia Farrugia is a former editor of Illum newspaper.
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How are people who are being investigated in court allowed to particiapte in new bids? This guy is involved in a number of other MITA projects, one related to vehicle licensing and his company is also part of the consortium shortlisted for the Mater Dei computer system - a multi million euro project.
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I bet myself one euro cent that he would not resign.
Who resigns in Malta, especially if he is a 'ben visto'.
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Asking a person to resign is not enough. A person who sat on a board knows the mindset and any internal confidential comments made during meetings of the Board which gives an unfair advantage. Such persons should have any bid they make automatically excluded from any tender issued during the tenancy of the board on which they sat. This is what happens within Boards which adhere to established ethical standards.
