Transport Malta has returned 38 vehicles it leased from a company owned by an alleged kidnapper and suspected money launderer, after it leased them unlawfully, according to the Nationalist Party.

In a press conference on Friday, PN spokesperson Peter Agius and MP Jason Azzopardi said Transport Malta returned the vehicles on Thursday, after Azzopardi revealed details of an alleged racket between the director of the company, Christian Borg, and officials in Transport Malta and LESA.

Azzopardi alleged on Wednesday evening that up to €3 million in fines owed by a car rental firm owned by Borg vanished from government systems without being paid. 

He has also said that Borg's company Princess Operations Ltd leased 38 low-emission vehicles to Transport Malta in 2020, despite it not being eligible for the tender. 

Speaking Friday, Azzopardi said that the July 2020 tender was "evidently tailor-made for Christian Borg and his company," but that Princess Operations Ltd. should have been disqualified because one of its directors has been convicted of rape.

The man in question, Tyson Grech, was sentenced to six years in prison but the case is being appealed.

Azzopardi's speech on Wednesday made several claims about Borg, including ones linking him to members of Prime Minister Robert Abela's family. 

The PN MP also said that, for years, tourists who hired Goldcar rental vehicles and received traffic contraventions would pay the fines to the rental company but the money would never make it to the authorties, because the fines were erased from the system.

Information handed to the police

During Friday's press conference, Azzopardi said he has since spoken to two FCID inspectors and given them personal details of the Transport Malta and LESA officials allegedly involved in the racket, information about their unexplained wealth as well as number plates of affected vehicles and 

"It was a cordial, 50-minute meeting," he said. 

"I also informed them that one of the people in the racket has been contacting people, asking them to promise them they would erase their messages on their Whatsapp chats."

Peter Agius said the government has not denied, neither explained the allegations. Azzopardi said he is yet to hear from LESA and Transport Malta.

Azzopardi also claimed Borg bought properties worth more than €2 million in cash, without loans. 

"How do you explain that a 27-year-old could buy properties worth more than €2 million in cash?" he asked. "And the Prime Minister of our greylisted country was his lawyer."

Christian Borg, a 28-year-old whose business interests centre on car hire and purchase companies, is among five people facing charges of having abducted and beaten a man last month. They are all pleading not guilty to the charges. 

Times of Malta has reported that police are investigating the group on suspicion that they used their car dealerships to launder drug money.