Transport Malta is seeking legal advice on how to enforce its suspension of Christian Borg’s car leasing operation because his cars are now being leased out under a different company.
Borg, whose licence was suspended after complaints of malpractice about his service, is also facing criminal proceedings over an alleged kidnap.
Transport Malta issued the suspension against his company Princess Garage in 2019. However, the leasing business to which Borg is now linked is operating under the name Princess Operations Ltd.
Sources close to the transport watchdog said they were seeking a legal evaluation of whether the suspension can be extended to Princess Operations.
Among the company’s clients are LESA and Transport Malta itself.
Last March, Borg lost a court appeal against the suspension of his car-rental licence. It was the second appeal he lost, after his bid to overturn the decision was dismissed by the Administrative Review Tribunal in July 2022.
The decision to suspend Princess Garage’s licence had been made by Transport Malta in January 2019. It came after the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority and other authorities received “numerous, repeated and extremely serious complaints of malpractice” from clients who had hired a car from Goldcar, the international franchise under whose name Princess Garage used to lease cars.
The licence covered the operation of a fleet of 1,145 vehicles. Goldcar has since cut all ties with Borg and his companies.
However, Goldcar was replaced by car rental franchise Sicily by Car through Princess Operations, whose shares are solely owned by Princess Holding Ltd, which is in turn wholly owned by Borg.
Borg is listed as company secretary of Princess Operations, and Joseph Camenzuli, the Labour Party’s former official photographer, is its director and legal representative. Sicily by Car owner Tommaso Dragotto failed to respond to several requests for comment.
Transport Malta is renting 41 vehicles from Princess Operations, under a 2020 tender issued through the Department of Contracts that runs until 2025. The tender covered the lease of 38 low-emission motorbikes and cars as well as three vans. It was awarded in three parts, worth €157,680, €50,808 and €39,420 respectively.
Princess Operations beat 13 other bidders to win the three contracts, despite rival bids coming in cheaper for two of the three submissions.
Times of Malta has learnt that LESA too is seeking legal advice over its contract to lease 24 cars from Princess Operations for €108,405.
Borg was arrested and charged in court last year in connection with a botched kidnapping the previous February.
He hit the headlines again in March following revelations by Times of Malta that his car hire-purchase company, No Deposit Cars Malta, made customers sign contracts accepting that their vehicles may have GPS tracking devices installed.
Twenty-six customers filed a judicial protest asking for their contracts with the company to be rescinded and calling for a police investigation into tax evasion and fraud.
Camenzuli and No Deposit Cars Malta manager Luke Milton earlier this month defended the company’s right to track its customers.
Last week, Times of Malta ran an exposé of Borg’s vast unexplained wealth, reporting that investigators suspect he may be using his car business to launder funds from drug trafficking and other criminal activity.