Updated | Government creates security services company

The Office of the Principal Permanent Secretary has denied the existence of any connection between Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar and Fort Security Services Ltd - a company which Economy Minister Chris Cardona yesterday confirmed had been set up by the government.

Cardona had been responding to a parliamentary question by Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi. He said that is too early to ascertain how many people the company will employ, but insisted that it be cheaper than contracting private security services companies as had been done in the past.

Opposition MP Mario de Marco pointed out that the government owned 119 of the shares in the company, except one that was owned by Karl Cutajar, an 18-year-old director of Mimcol, the government-holding company, who they claimed is also a relative of principal permanent secretary Mario Cutaja. Asked by Azzopardi whether appointing an 18-year-old to represent the government was normal corporate practice, Cardona said that his age was irrelevant so long as he was qualified.

Here, Labour MP Anthony Agius Decelis argued that this is a reflection of the government’s trust in the leadership abilities of youth.

Cardona refuted suggestions that the company was set up to compete with private companies, arguing that it was set up to “fill gaps” that existed under the previous administration, such as at the former Shipbuilding Site.

“The sheer scale of robbery of cranes, iron and metal pieces at the Shipbuilding under the previous administration was incredible and almost unbelievable”, Cardona said. “It cost the government thousands of euro and we set up this company to prevent such robberies and other damage, to ensure that the abuse isn’t repeated, to tackle precarious jobs, and because doing so would be value for money.

He dismissed a report that appeared in PN newspaper In-Nazzjon claiming that the himself, parliamentary secretary Jose Herrera and Malta Freeport chairman Aaron Farrugia have unnecessarily appointed people from their own constituencies as security officers.

“They must be living three years ago, because things have changed since then,” Cardona said, adding that the previous administration had employed over 70 security officers.

“Under the previous administration, the chief security officer of the shipyards was the same chief security officer of Dar Centrali. Now our chief security officer is an experienced and fully-qualified police officer.”

Fenech Adami  questioned what criteria are being used to employ security officers, to which Cardona responded that the government is using the same criteria as the previous administration had when employing persons of trust.