Nexia BT’s “undisputed reputation” made it the perfect choice to carry out work for the Malta Gaming Authority, the regulator argued in 2016, according to documents reviewed by Times of Malta.
At that stage, the consultancy company was already embroiled in the Panama Papers scandal that involved former government officials Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi.
In arguing that the finance ministry should sign off on an August 2016 direct order to Nexia BT, the MGA described Nexia as “a top consultancy firm” which enjoyed an “undisputed reputation”.
An excerpt from the document justifying the choice of Nexia BT.“Other government entities have already worked with Nexia in the past”, the MGA said.
Nexia BT’s managing partner, Brian Tonna formed part of the Office of the Prime Minister’s inner circle during Joseph Muscat’s time in government.
During its heyday, Nexia BT received upwards of €2 million worth of government contracts.
According to the documents, then gaming authority executive chairman, Joe Cuschieri, a close associate of Muscat, signed off on the decision to bypass normal procurement rules and directly award the contract to Nexia BT.
The reason given for resorting to a direct order, which the auditor general says should only be done in exceptional cases, was due to the “urgency” of the work that needed to be done by Nexia BT.
Nexia BT was hired by the gaming authority to formulate a plan on how to mitigate illegal betting in Malta.
The company, its former top officials and Keith Schembri were all charged with money laundering last year.
Former Allied Newspapers managing director Adrian Hillman, who was also contracted as an MGA consultant in 2017, was also charged with money laundering in the same case.
Correspondence seen by Times of Malta also shows how the Malta Gaming Authority had made it a point to channel public funds to the Marigold Foundation, a charity run by Muscat’s wife, Michelle.
Faced with a sponsorship request by the Malta Arts Council for a conference, Cuschieri shot down an internal MGA suggestion to take a “fraction” of the €20,000 that had been set aside for a Marigold Foundation donation to give it to the arts council.
“In the beginning of the year, I had made a provision of €20,000 just in case we decided to help the Marigold Foundation again this year.
“We can take a fraction from this budget and help the above [Malta Arts Council request] if you agree. If anything at all, I would give them between 5k-7k out of the 20k allocated for the Marigold Foundation,” an MGA employee wrote to Cuschieri in an April 2016 e-mail.
According to the correspondence, Cuschieri shot down the proposal, saying he would like to give all €20,000 to Marigold.
Instead, he proposed to give the Malta Arts Council €5,000 for their event, without touching the Marigold budget.
Information tabled in parliament shows Marigold received €170,000 from the MGA between 2015 and 2019.