A joint investigation between Times of Malta, Amphora Media and MaltaToday revealed that James Piscopo, the stalwart friend and political ally of disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat, had been placed under police investigation for corruption, tax evasion and money laundering in connection with over €30,000 that he received back in 2015, alleged to have been kickbacks from two multimillion government projects that he oversaw when he occupied the position of CEO and chair of Transport Malta.
The first project concerns the building of two EU-financed flyovers at the Kappara junction at a cost of €35 million. From among five bidding consortia, the project was awarded to SJ Kappara KV Construction, a consortium with Spanish interests that included the local Construct Furniture.
The second project concerns a concession to operate Malta’s scheduled bus service over a 15-year period at a cost of more than €430 million, awarded to a new Spanish company by the name of Autobuses de Leon.
The auditor general, Charles Deguara had presented a detailed performance audit report on the bus service operation concession to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Anġlu Farrugia, in which he expressed concern about the failure of Transport Malta to follow principles of good governance in its negotiations, which could have hindered it from receiving better offers.
A focal point in the police investigation of Piscopo was Shiv Shankaran Nair, who, in 2000, was permanently debarred by the World Bank for engaging in corrupt practices. Nair was linked to millions of euros in payments believed to have originated from Malta Public Transport and companies linked to the Kappara project.
In his reaction to the revelations by the three media entities, Prime Minister Robert Abela continued his vicious tirade against journalists by publicly declaring that the investigation was a strategic personal attack tied to Piscopo’s return to the Labour Party. He also accused Repubblika of resorting to attacks against those who help and work within the party, after the civil society movement filed a request for a magisterial inquiry to look into the unexplained payment to Piscopo.
Seventeen years ago, Piscopo was employed as a purchasing clerk with Air Malta. Besides, he was a member of Muscat’s core campaign team in the Labour Party leadership race.
After becoming leader of the opposition and taking over the reins of the Labour Party in 2008, Muscat wasted no time in pushing a motion through the party’s general conference that abolished the position of secretary general, which position had been filled by a democratic election. At the same time, he officialised the new position of CEO in the party’s statute and handpicked Piscopo to fill it after obtaining his release on special leave from Air Malta under the pretext that his services were required by Muscat’s predecessor party leader, Alfred Sant.
Piscopo eventually played a significant role in the party’s 2013 election campaign. After becoming prime minister in 2013, Muscat rewarded him handsomely. Piscopo immediately resigned from his position as party CEO and was appointed CEO and chair of Transport Malta, which fell under the remit of his wife’s uncle-in-law, former minister Joe Mizzi. At that time, the authority served both as a transport regulator and road builder.
Mizzi declared that, on Muscat’s advice, he was agreeing that Piscopo would be good for the job, for which Piscopo received €85,000 yearly from Maltese coffers, together with a raft of fringe benefits.
Handpicked Labour cronies have been looting the state’s coffers over the past 12 years- Denis Tanti
In addition, Piscopo was appointed on various government boards for which he received additional payment.
Piscopo abused of his position with Transport Malta for personal gain by setting up a personal holding company called Undecim Five Investments Ltd to conduct private consultancy work and registering the company on the address of a property that had been rented by the authority for €49,000 yearly at the A3 Towers, in Paola.
It was during this time that Piscopo allegedly received over €30,000 in kickbacks, which money he admitted to have actually received but claimed to be payment related to consultancy work.
In June 2018, when Transport Malta passed its multi-million-euro road building projects over to Infrastructure Malta, Piscopo decided to leave his position with the authority and was appointed CEO of the Lands Authority with a financial package of more than €80,000 yearly. In addition, he enjoyed €20,000 as part of a financial package from another public appointment in the position of chairman of the state company Automated Revenue Management Services Ltd.
Piscopo started in his new CEO position with the Lands Authority on a bad foot when he failed to fulfil his obligation of disclosing his personal business interests. A potential conflict of interest arose after it was discovered that Piscopo held shares in business with the Zammit Tabona family, with whom the Lands Authority was in direct negotiations. In fact, Piscopo’s holding company was a shareholder in two companies with the Zammit Tabona family.
Following a turbulent time in office, Piscopo was forced to resign from his position in January 2021 after it was revealed by the media that the police were investigating claims that he received kickbacks from road building projects when he was CEO with Transport Malta and that he had more than €600,000 hidden in offshore funds.
Yet, Piscopo continued to hold other public positions that he occupied and, ironically, was engaged as an advisor to the Zammit Tabona family.
If the claims being investigated turn out to be true, it would make Piscopo one of hundreds of handpicked Labour cronies who have been looting the state’s coffers over the past 12 years with the full blessing of the Labour government.
He is also one of scores of so-called persons of trust who were made chairpersons or CEOs of regulatory authorities and, at the same time, allowed to continue performing their private work. This resulted in a conflict of interest that has compromised their decisions and actions with a consequential unfair, unreasonable and inefficient distribution of services.
And while the government squanders public funds on Labour’s privileged ones, the country’s national debt continues to soar. In just one year, it has increased by €859.1 million, reaching nearly €11 billion by the end of last February.
Denis Tanti is a former assistant director at the health ministry.