Ian Borg vows to recover 'every cent owed to the people' after Fortina scandal

Updated 5.10pm with PN reaction 

Deputy prime minister Ian Borg will “urgently convene” a parliamentary committee to discuss the findings of the Fortina NAO report and pledged that government will seek to recover any money it is due.

Borg, who was then-minister responsible for lands, told Times of Malta on Tuesday that he did not know of a hidden valuation that valued the land in Sliema for double that paid by the developers.

He said that now that new information has come to light, parliament must re-evaluate the concession.

“We MPs are not there to protect those who hid the documents from the minister, the parliamentary secretary, and parliament. We are there to defend the people,” he said.

“In the coming days I will urgently convene the audit committee – of which I’m chair today – and will ask the Auditor General to provide the information he has, which parliament did not have then and still does not have today. 

“I will also ask him to present the other report he commissioned to verify the value of the land. Then we should enter this discussion with an open mind and ensure that every cent owed to the people is paid.”

The NAO report published on Monday revealed that major business Fortina Group was allowed to use the land to develop apartments and commercial activities against a payment of €8.1 million, half the price it was valued at.

Its investigation found that Lands Authority official Lino Farrugia Sacco "suppressed" a report that valued the land at €18 million. Fortina, owned by the Zammit Tabona family, paid just over €8 million for the land.

An independent valuation of the land by the NAO, put the value at €21 million, leading to the conclusion that €12.9 million had been lost from the deal.

The deal

Parliament had voted to allow Fortina to use the land and develop it for tourism purposes in 2019.

But the NAO found that ahead of that vote, former judge Farrugia Sacco, who at the time chaired the authority's board of governors and who died in 2021, “misled” the authority’s board, then Lands Minister Ian Borg, parliamentary secretary Chris Agius, and ultimately parliament.

Moreover, evidence uncovered by the NAO suggests that then-OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri was also aware of the €18 million valuation and helped keep it quiet.

Former prime minister Joseph Muscat went on to become a paid consultant of Fortina less than a year after the land was transferred, a mere three months after resigning as prime minister in January 2020.

Schembri denied wrongdoing and Fortina said it was denying insinuations made in its regard.

'Why not?'

On Tuesday, asked whether he felt responsible, having been the minister responsible for lands at the time, Borg said he and his then-parliamentary secretary could not have been aware of the hidden valuation, especially since they took over lands at a time when a new law precluded politicians from being directly involved in land concessions.

But MPs needed to do something about it now, he added.

“The auditor is saying that parliament decided at a time when a document was missing from the picture, and therefore, parliament could not make the best decision with that missing information,” he said. 

“Therefore, now that we have the full information, we should put it before the committee, and it should see that the fair price is paid, and if not, discover what the fair price is, and every cent that the government deserves to collect is collected.

“Why not? If one sees that there is justification that the amount that should have been paid was more or less, then one ensures that the appropriate amount is paid.”

When did you find out?

Addressing a press conference later, PN MP Ryan Callus, who sat on the Land Authority’s board of governors, questioned when Borg first found out about the second evaluation, and why he had not acted on it.

Callus said the Nationalist Party had opposed the deal, and had now been vindicated.

Fellow MP Darren Carabott demanded that the government take all the necessary legal steps to recover the money lost from the deal, and ensure full accountability for those responsible.

Carabott said while people struggle with rising property prices, Fortina were given a “discount” by the government.