Family Minister Michael Falzon turned down a request to give Parliament a copy of the controversial multi-million-euro contract for a 500-bed extension at St Vincent De Paul Residence, in Luqa - but said that it had agreed to let the National Audit Office investigate.
Pressed by Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina to show MPs a copy of the €274 million deal signed last year with a private consortium made up of James Caterers and a subsidiary of the db Group, Dr Falzon refused, saying “the government will be following the same procedure used in similar contracts with the private sector”.
While dubbing what The Sunday Times of Malta reported on the deal as an invention, the minister said the government had already accepted to have the contract investigated.
The investigation, demanded by the Opposition, has still to start and, given the procedure followed by the NAO, it could take some time to be concluded given the long list of investigations on controversial projects.
This is the second time the government refused to publish the contract.
An official request filed by this newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act was turned down by the ministry citing commercially-sensitive information.
This is the second time the government had refused to publish the contract, citing commercially-sensitive information
Questions on the contract sent to the Parliamentary Secretary for Active Aging, Anthony Agius Decelis, remain unanswered. No reply was forthcoming to a request to interview him.
The Times of Malta reported earlier this year that a €60-million tender issued by the government for the provision of meals and the building of a new kitchen at St Vincent De Paul had morphed into a 500-bed extension estimated to cost €274 million.
In contrast with what usually happens, the tender document did not mention the provision of the extension but asked those bidding for the supply of meals to offer the government a gift in the firm of an unspecified “additional investment” related to the facility.
After awarding the €60 million tender to James Caterers and the db Group subsidiary, the government said the private consortium had come up with an improved offer.
It agreed that while the consortium would build, at its own costs, a new 500-bed extension on public land as part of the original tender, the government would fork out €274 million to the private consortium, instead of the original €60 million, to pay for services related to the new facility.
The Democratic Party has asked the European Commission to investigate the contract on possible breach of EU public procurement rules by the Maltese government.