The overwhelming majority of procurement of goods and services by the Gozo Ministry last year was carried out through direct orders despite strict EU rules dictating this method should only be used as a last resort.

Information published recently and analysed by Times of Malta shows that in 2018, the Gozo Ministry procured services, paid through taxpayers’ money, for over 90 per cent of the cases.

A total of 146 direct orders were issued for goods and services costing over €7.4 million over 12 months.

Goods and services procured without any competitive process range across all types of supplies and services, including hiring people to drive to fuel for Gozo Channel’s vessels.

Minister for Gozo Justyne Caruana

Recipients of direct orders include a range of beneficiaries, from church institutions to football clubs.

Ministry officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity said that while some direct orders were justified, most of the time, this was a case of “Gozo politics”.

“Gozo is very particular and the ministry acts like a large local council distributing funds to keep everyone happy,” said the official, who has been working at the ministry for many years. 

Gozo Channel made the most use of direct orders, some of them worth hundreds of thousands.

“Under the PN, everyone used to criticise Giovanna Debono for running the island like a fiefdom. Now [under Minister Justyne Caruana] it’s much worse as tenders have become a rarity and direct orders the rule. It has gone to an extreme,” he said.

Times of Malta is informed that despite various ‘informal’ warnings by the Finance Ministry to adhere to procurement rules and avoid as much as possible the use of direct orders, the Gozo Ministry continued to dish out contracts.

Questions sent to the Gozo Ministry asking for an explanation remained unanswered by the time of writing.

Ministry acts like a large local council distributing funds to keep everyone happy

The list shows that Gozo Channel made the most use of direct orders, some of them worth hundreds of thousands.

In one particular case, Gozo Channel paid directly Falzon Fuel Services over €1 million for fuel, which can be supplied by other suppliers.

Gozo Channel also paid hundreds of thousands in direct orders for many of the services needed, including personnel for security, mooring and seamen.

Most of the recipients of these lucrative contracts were given to security companies, including one owned by Stephen Ciangura, the driver of Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) chairman Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando.

In its procurement of legal services, which last year was compounded by the issue of a fast ferry tender, currently under scrutiny by the court and the Public Contracts Review Board, it issued numerous direct orders to Ganado Advocates for the procurement of legal services.

Football club Kerċem Ajax was given a €36,704 contract to provide yoga classes for the elderly while the Franciscan Friars, a religious order, was paid €700,000 to rent the Gozo Ministry a villa in Birkirkara to start hosting Gozitan students while studying in Malta.

Some of the highest-paid direct orders