NAO to investigate Malita Investments over social housing irregularities
Affordable housing parliamentary secretary Andy Ellul says government will fully cooperate
The National Audit Office has launched an investigation into Malita Investments Ltd following reports over cost overruns, delays in social housing projects, claims of unpaid bills to contractors and allegations of political interference.
Speaking on the TVM programme Xtra on Thursday evening, the newly appointed parliamentary secretary for affordable housing Andy Ellul said the permanent secretary informed him that on Wednesday the NAO had launched an investigation.
Ellul insisted the government will “collaborate fully” with the investigation so that “any allegations can be cleared.”
Ellul took over the affordable housing portfolio last weekend after the former Affordable Housing Minister Roderick Galdes unexpectedly resigned on Saturday evening, on the eve of new revelations by the Sunday Times of Malta which showed how the former minister’s brother had business links with a contractor awarded social housing projects.
Galdes had been mired in a storm of controversy since late November, when Marlene Mizzi, the former chair of Malita Investments, accused him of meddling in the publicly listed company and “hobnobbing” with contractors that the company had engaged on social housing projects. Malita Investments denied any of its decisions had been influenced by political intereference .
Malita Investments is a public company that is 80 per cent state-owned. Originally set up as a special purpose vehicle to help fund major public infrastructure projects, in more recent years its focus has narrowed more specifically onto social housing projects.
The company risked going off the rails over the past 18 months after massive cost overruns and delays on a massive social housing project in Luqa – which it obtained millions in EU funding for – left it illiquid. Various contractors involved in that project have since filed court action, claiming they are owed millions for works carried out in Luqa.
A contractor involved in the government’s flagship social housing project in Ħal Farruġ told Times of Malta last November he is owed €1.5 million in fees.
Malita's executive chairman Johan Farrugia resigned just months after adduming an executive role in 2025, and the CEO and CFO also quit earlier in the year.
Earlier this month, Malita appointed Marlene Attard as its new CEO and Stephen McCArthy as chief financial officer. The company’s chief operating officer, Amanda Desira, will remain in her role.
The company’s chairman Marvin Gaerty, who was appointed late last year, will now transition from an executive role to a non-executive one.