Malta's construction lobby hoovered up €240,000 in government funds between 2014 and 2018, its accounts show.
Apart from tapping funds directed at civil society organisations, the figure includes a direct order given to the Malta Developers Association (MDA) in 2015 to offer “specialised training to engineers from various ministries”.
The direct order was given by the Energy and Health Ministry, formerly headed by Konrad Mizzi.
In the year the direct order was given, the MDA said its income from grants and the training programme totalled €121,791.
The association is a registered non-profit voluntary organisation. Its code of ethics, filed with the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations, was signed by former PN MP Michael Falzon, the MDA’s founder who in 2015 was revealed to have hidden €460,000 in Switzerland during his time as a minister.
A year-by-year examination of the MDA’s accounts shows its government funding increased from €2,773 in 2014 to €58,000 in 2018.
The MDA competes with other NGOs which work with migrants, promote environmental conservation and help victims of crime, among others, for a grant that is capped at €6,000 per voluntary organisation.
Other trade organisations also compete for this type of funding.
Separately, the MDA also manages to tap another civil society fund that in 2018 saw them receive a €58,000 grant.
The General Workers Union, Malta Chamber of SMEs, UĦM, Malta Employers Association and Forum Unions Malta also received that same amount. According to its statute, the main objective of the MDA is to safeguard the interests of property developers and should use all its resources to achieve this aim.
This includes the protection of property developers from third parties, including but not limited to suppliers, customers, employees and government entities, the MDA’s statute says.
Asked for an explanation about how these government grants are used, MDA secretary general Michael Stivala said the association is a non-profit organisation registered according to the voluntary organisations’ legislation in place.
“It adheres fully to the provisions of the law, including the submitting of annual audited accounts,” he said.
“Like all the other major constituted bodies in Malta, including the GRTU, the Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise, the Malta Employers Association, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, the major unions and many others, it applies and qualifies for public funds in order to sustain its activities.
“These are used for the MDA’s functioning according to the specific rules of the Civil Society Fund,” Stivala added.
On the 2015 direct order for training government engineers, Stivala said the training course was conducted by a “top European expert” engaged by the MDA’s accredited academy to provide “specialised training” to engineers engaged by the government.
It is unclear how much it cost the MDA to organise this training, as there is no specific item referring to it in the expenditure items of its 2015 accounts.
The MDA’s total expenditure that year was €25,801.
The following year, MDA president Sandro Chetcuti started drawing a salary of €50,000 from the voluntary organisation. His MDA salary was upped to €80,000 in 2018, making up the bulk of the MDA’s €132,599 expenditure that year.
Apart from presiding over the MDA, Chetcuti was given a government property market consultancy role in 2018.
He had taken on the role upon the MDA’s approval.
The previous year, the MDA and government entered into a public-private partnership to set up the Property Malta Foundation, which promotes property sales in Malta to foreigners.
Last year, the Ombudsman’s office accused the then Building Regulations Office of breaking the law by outsourcing its legal obligation to draw up a list of registered contractors to the MDA.
Marthese Portelli joined the MDA as its director general just weeks after resigning as a PN MP.