Italians in ‘crisis meeting’ over millions owed for parliament stone-works

The fate of an Italian company still owed €3.4 million by the Maltese government, is being discussed at a crisis meeting today at the Italian ministry for social development.

The Italian company Filiberti, itself owes hundreds of thousands to Maltese companies it subcontracted in the construction of the Valletta parliament, which provided it with the marble slabs that clads the Renzo Piano creation.

Three MPs from Parma, the Filiberti hometown, said they will be following the crisis meeting in a bid to secure a positive resolution.

“We will be following attentively all developments at this meeting, and hope for a positive solution that will safeguard all jobs and the continuation of this business,” the social democrats Patrizia Maestri, Giuseppe Romanini and Giorgio Pagliari were reported as saying.

“The intervention of the minister for economic development is important for the emergency itself and to prevent Filiberti’s closure, but it is also evident that the foreign minister will be required to seek a resolution to this controversy.”

But Maltese companies say they are owed money from Filiberti as well, amongst them Ranger Ltd, which has claimed €150,000 in two court decisions for transport services.

Ranger’s managing director Godwin Mifsud said his company transport the Gozo quarry stone on behalf of Filiberti Design Stone (FDS). But he also accused the government of ignoring the matter: “I expect the government to intervene as this has been dragging on for too long.”

While the Italians won the tender under the name of CFF Filiberti, FDS subcontracted work in Malta. In April 2014, the court of appeal in Bologna confirmed the recognition and enforceability of the Maltese court sentence ordering FDS to pay Ranger Ltd €107,000 and additional expenses. The sum has now gone up to around €150,000 when taking into consideration interests and other legal expenses incurred.

Filiberti is claiming that it is facing bankruptcy unless tangible steps are taken to find a solution but Mifsud insists that the company is exaggerating its financial difficulties. “In an email correspondence with one of Filiberti’s directors, I was told in no uncertain terms that I’m running after a fast train when I ask to be paid,” Mifsud said.

According to the FDS balance sheet approved on 30 April, 2015, the company made a profit of €5,693 in 2014 and its net assets stood at €122,876.

In 2011, CFF Filiberti Srl was tasked by the BIB Joint Venture, the main contractor responsible for the construction of the parliament, with the cladding of the façade while Q-Stone Ltd was nominated supplier of the stone. Q-Stone Ltd is also owed some €31,571 by Filiberti and subject to court proceedings initiated by the Maltese company. 

Filiberti owner Alessandro Filiberti has appealed to Italian premier Matteo Renzi and President Sergio Mattarella, to assist the company in recouping the money it says it is owed by the Maltese government.

The Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation (GHRC), which handled the City Gate project, said Filiberti is expecting payment for delays it itself caused.

The GHRC does not have a contract with CFF Filiberti but with a consortium of companies (BIB JV), which also includes CFF Filiberti. Originally, the Italian contractor had complained of delays on the quality of the stone excavated from a Gozo quarry. Filiberti said one of the reasons for the delay was the continuous shortage of stone, which had to be quarried from a site in Ta’ Klement, Qala.

The material was then shipped in large blocks to the Parma plant where it was cut into thousands of different forms and shipped back to Malta.

The Qala stone was used in large quantities for the internal finishes and to clad the two blocks from the outside. Piano’s idea was to emphasise the Maltese identity in this prime location in the capital.

From a technical perspective, the job was challenging because the stone had to be cut into more than 13,000 different shapes and then shipped back to Malta in more than 400 trucks.

But Filiberti is claiming that it has suffered financially because it had to come up with numerous solutions at their own expense to mitigate the situation. “In reality, we ended up shipping more than 200 extra truckloads of stone to satisfy the client,” owner Alessandro Filiberti said, who complained back in 2014 that the company had not received a single payment for 11 months.