CHOGM direct order for ‘works-for-favours’ whistleblower Charles Magro

The whistleblower in the ‘works-for-favours’ reports that put former finance minister Tonio Fenech under the spotlight for renovation works carried out by contractors JPM Bros. is one of the beneficiaries of CHOGM contracts.

Charles Magro, an Enemalta employee, was awarded the contract to set up the press centre facilities mounted at Fort St Elmo for the Valletta Summit by direct order. MaltaToday understands that Magro has been seconded by the state utility corporation to the General Workers Union while retaining all his employment benefits. Magro was a shop steward for the union at Enemalta.

The Times of Malta reported on Sunday that the Office of the Prime Minister was refusing to list the number of direct orders and tenders handed out so far for the organisation of the Valletta Summit and the upcoming Commonwealth summit.

The newspaper said that preparations were in full swing on a large steel structure being erected in Ħagar Qim, chosen by the Office of the Prime Minster as the venue for a gala dinner for Commonwealth leaders and other dignitaries, including the British monarch.

The job was offered, this time by tender, to Magro’s Tec Ltd for €57,000; half the price of the closest rival offer.

Magro’s company Tec Ltd was also responsible for all the tents used by Labour during the last electoral campaign. No tenders were issued for the press centre facilities and instead the company owned by Carmel Magro was selected directly by the OPM.

Magro had blown the whistle on works being carried out by JPM Bros, the owners of the Jerma Palace Hotel in Marsaskala, on the Balzan residence of finance minister Tonio Fenech in 2009. Magro, who had not been paid for sub-contracted works on Fenech’s house, claimed that Peter Montebello had told him the works were “a favour for the minister to help him sell off the Jerma to Gasan and Fenech [the two business groups]”.

Fenech had sued Labour media and Magro himself for libel, though not MaltaToday which broke the story; in court Fenech presented invoices and fiscal receipts for payments he made to Magro's Rainbow Turnkey Contractors, which he says are proof that he paid Magro for all works sub-contracted to him.

Other contracts for Magro

Magro’s outdoor events firm has already received four contracts of some €250,000 in total value by the justice and culture ministry. Three contracts worth over €179,000 were awarded by direct order, while the fourth was won by tender.

It was awarded a €58,000 contract by direct order for erecting the stage and sound at the 2014 carnival; €29,500 for cleaning the Marsa Shipbuilding site before the Junior Eurovision Song Contest; and a €92,132 contract for the ‘provisional construction’ of a backstage area and press centre for the same event. The company won a €75,679 tender published in the government gazette for the 2015 Carnival.

No answers on CHOGM contracts

The OPM has been tight-lipped on the costs related to hosting Valletta and the CHOGM summits. The Sunday Times said that companies which were directly involved in the last Labour Party electoral campaign received direct orders worth tens of thousands of euros for last week’s Valletta Summit.

The Valletta Summit’s security services were entrusted to Kerber Security Ltd. Until the last elections, the company used to render security services to the Labour Party, which, according to a spokesman, were “free of charge”.

Raymond Vella and Co. Ltd, another company with close connections to Labour, and which made the news recently through the €300,000 new lighting system on the façade of the Auberge de Castille, was given the job to handle all lighting requirements for last week’s summit.

EU 2017 contracts tabled in parliament

Also tabled in parliament in reply to a PQ by shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi were contracts related to the EU2017 presidency: