Both the former and current social solidarity ministers have denied responsibility for a multi-million euro management contract for a home for the elderly that the National Audit Office said breached procurement law.
The report published on Wednesday, said the family ministry and department of contracts "acted in breach of legislative provisions" and broke public procurement regulations in the 2017 St Vincent de Paul deal, which it said could be deemed invalid.
The complex deal, which led to a €274 million concession to a consortium owned by James Caterers and a firm forming part of dB group, spanned the terms of two ministers.
Current social solidarity minister Michael Falzon, who took up office in June 2017, insisted he “wasn’t involved in any of the stages of the process in any way”. Speaking briefly to Times of Malta outside parliament, he said he needed more time to assess the contents of the report.
Former social solidarity minister Michael Farrugia, who is now the minister for senior citizens and active ageing, also said that he needs to “look at the report fully to see what it contains”.
“What I can say for sure is that I found a kitchen in a disastrous state,” Farrugia said, referring to the fact that the kitchen at St Vincent de Paul’s residential home was not fit for purpose.
“Back then, there was an NAO report from 2004, which clearly stated that the kitchen was not in an acceptable state and the same NAO had recommended that the kitchen should be run by a private entity,” Farrugia said.
A timeine of who was responsible during key dates of the deal. Photo: NAO“When I was in charge of the direction St Vincent de Paul was to take, I hired experts from ITS who had written up a report which determined the kitchen should be closed because it was a danger to the health of the residents,” he added.
The government had then decided to “ride the contract” that provides food to Mater Dei, with the approval of the rest of the administration, he said.
“From that point onward, the project was administrated by the departments responsible for it, always with the approval of relevant entities such as the director of contracts,” Farrugia stated.
“From this point of the discussion onward, which occurred after the time I left, I didn’t discuss this any further,” he said.
The report also highlighted how former parliamentary secretary Justyne Caruana and former parliamentary secretary Anthony Agius Decelis left the auditor’s office “incredulous” at how the deal was not scrutinised and thrown out, arguing that their failure to do so was tantamount to dereliction of duty.
Caruana, who is now the minister of education, was not seen in parliament on Wednesday afternoon. Agius Decelis, who is now one of the government’s backbencher MPs, was also not seen for the afternoon’s plenary session.