Fortina and Turkish company TACA Construction are at loggerheads over payments to workers who are claiming they are running out of money as they have not been paid in months.
Times of Malta reported on Tuesday how a group of Turkish builders in Malta employed to work on the Fortina project for Ankara-based TACA Construction have run out of money after not being paid for the past five months.
The workers have insisted that despite working for eight months on the project, they have only been paid for three.
This prompted a quick reaction from Fortina Investments, which distanced itself from the construction workers' claims about them not being paid. It claimed to have honoured all payments to TACA.
In comments to Times of Malta, however, a spokesperson for TACA said the construction company “duly rejects the claims that they [Fortina] have paid us [TACA] in full; let alone the statement of overpaying”.
“The dispute on the project has required us to take drastic measures on the project. Therefore, we have agreed with the client to hire an internationally acclaimed third-party consultant to make an independent assessment and to await the outcome,” the spokesperson said.
Now, in a letter drawn up by Fortina’s lawyers Camilleri Preziosi Advocates, seen by Times of Malta, TACA have been given until Friday “to ensure compliance with its legal obligations”.
Fortina reiterated that all payments have been paid to the Turkish company and also asserted that in some cases, overpayments were also made.
“They [Fortina] have also, in instances, paid third-party suppliers, landlords and numerous other third parties claiming payment from TACA to facilitate works,” the lawyers said.
The lawyers added it would not be “correct to disclose actual documentation such as interim payment certificates and payments made”.
The sub-contractor
Meanwhile, it has since emerged that TACA has brought in a sub-contractor who it says is responsible for the workers and their wages. The Turkish company claims all payments to this sub-contractor have been settled.
“These allegations should be directed to our sub-contractor whereas we have paid the sub-contractor in full as per our contract. In any case, we are addressing this issue carefully and with outmost importance to resolve it in the shortest time possible,” the TACA spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for the subcontracting company, Turkey-based Nivas Construction, also denied not paying the workers. Payments have only been halted in the past month after the workers stopped working, the spokesperson said.
The Nivas spokesperson said the company had all the necessary documentation to back up its claims.
Times of Malta has requested a copy of these documents though these have not yet been provided.
Fortina is insisting that TACA remains responsible to ensure everything is in order, even if it has brought in a sub-contractor.
‘Nobody cares about us’
As the three companies made their different statements, workers insist they are being taken for granted and that “nobody cares” about their well-being.
They stuck by their claims that nobody has paid them in months.
“We are in a difficult position because nobody will help us and we cannot afford to pay lawyers to assist us. We are all alone and nobody gives us any information,” one worker told Times of Malta.
TACA flew workers over to Malta after winning a bid to work on the Fortina redevelopment in Sliema. The company has also bid for work on the db Group's City Centre project planned for St George's Bay.
It originally planned to house workers in a disused quarry in Mqabba, but those plans were scrapped after the Planning Authority turned down a permit to convert the area into a compound.