More than two dozen local firms have filed legal proceedings to recoup a total of about €7 million they are owed by Turkish construction company TACA for building supplies and services rendered.
Court documents seen by Times of Malta show that the companies are insisting they are owed money ranging from a few hundred euros to hefty bills surpassing the €2 million mark.
One creditor went the extra mile and filed a court case requesting a ruling for the dissolution of the company and the seizure of its assets in Malta.
Through a provision of the Companies Act, the creditor requested the dissolution of TACA in Malta. This case is pending before Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon.
Other requests for garnishee orders have been upheld and most creditors have now filed individual cases in court after the Turkish company ignored the court proceedings filed by the Maltese firms to recoup any money they can.
Unofficial investigations conducted by the creditors indicated that, in Istanbul alone, there are some 125 court cases filed against the construction company, all of which are related to monies owed.
TACA Construction – based in Turkey’s capital, Ankara – is a giant firm which had entered into contracts with Maltese developers involved in the building of massive projects across the island.
The company has eight offices around the world and specialises in the construction of superstructures.
In Istanbul, there are some 125 court cases filed against the construction company
TACA flew workers to Malta after winning bids on the Fortina redevelopment project, in Sliema, as well as the new wing at St Vincent de Paul home for the elderly and work on the db Group’s City Centre project planned for St George’s Bay.
The workers making the trip earned an average monthly salary of about €1,450 and were provided with private healthcare insurance, flight tickets, free accommodation and three meals a day, the company had said.
However, trouble began brewing at the beginning of this year when the workers complained the company had not paid them their salaries.
In June, some of the workers said they had not been paid for up to five months and did not even have money to buy themselves some food.
According to the court documents seen, the problem was not limited to the payment of salaries as it also emerged that suppliers, too, were not being paid for the building materials they provided and services they rendered to the construction company.
Two large companies filed claims for building materials they supplied to TACA, one of them claiming €520,000 while the other racked up a bill of almost €2.2 million.
One company filed a claim of almost €77,000 for scaffolding, while others are owed €15,000 for marketing and PR, almost €200,000 for the hiring of cranes and building equipment, over €250,000 for flights and accommodation and another €530,000 for the letting of various properties in Malta.
Questions sent to TACA Construction have remained unanswered.
Last year, Times of Malta reported that TACA planned to bring to Malta some 2,500 workers, with discussions held with the government’s employment agency, Jobsplus, to ‘fast-track’ the required permits.
A tent and pre-fabricated homes were erected in a quarry in Mqabba, which was to be turned into a large compound for workers.
However, the plans had been scrapped after the authorities concerned had turned down a permit to convert the quarry area into a “small village”for the TACA workers.