The Opposition has demanded separate probes by an anti-corruption body and the Auditor General into the Marsa junction project.

Times of Malta revealed on Sunday how €2 million in success fees promised by the winning bidder to Daphne Caruana Galizia murder suspect Yorgen Fenech sparked suspicions of corruption and bribery.

Addressing a press conference, PN MP Karol Aquilina said he had reported the Marsa case to the permanent commission against corruption, which is tasked with investigating corruption cases.

Aquilina explained that a number of criminal offences may have been committed by public officials in the €40 million infrastructure project.

Referring to Times of Malta’s report, Aquilina said Fenech’s promised success fees were going to be split between two companies, one of which is linked to 17 Black.

He recalled how former government officials Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri were going to receive the equivalent of €5,000 daily from 17 Black.

Fellow PN MP Darren Carabott, who chairs parliament’s spending watchdog, said the committees' Opposition members had also demanded a separate probe by the Auditor General.

Spending watchdog probe

Carabott asked the Auditor General to investigate how the winning bidder – Ayhanlar – was awarded the contract despite being on the brink of bankruptcy.

Karol Aquilina (centre), with PN MPs Darren Carabott (right) and Graham Bencini.

The Auditor General has also been asked to investigate how the contract was then reassigned by the government to a Maltese company, which had no prior experience in road infrastructure works.

Carabott said the Opposition wants the Auditor General to investigate whether the government could just reassign a major contract to an inexperienced company.  

The company in question, Shining Star, is owned by Turkish billionaire Robert Yildirim.

Yildirim insinuated in an e-mail exchange with Fenech that the €2 million in success could be linked to bribery.

PN MP Graham Bencini said the Opposition’s requests for separate probes by the Permanent Commission Against Corruption and the Auditor General would ensure that the Marsa project is investigated from both the criminal and contractual aspect.

Bencini said that as a member of the public accounts committee, he and his fellow MPs have a duty to ensure public money is used responsibly.

Possible corruption in the partly-EU funded infrastructure project has been on the police’s radar ever since the seizure of murder suspect Yorgen Fenech’s mobile phone in November 2019.

Sources familiar with the police “file” opened on the case nearly three years ago say investigators did very little to move it forward, despite suspicions that Fenech’s political connections could have been used to ensure Ayhanlar won the contract.

At one stage, the “file” was even closed by the police, who decided that no case could be built based on Fenech’s data alone. The file was later re-opened upon review.

This year, officials from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office moved to start their own investigation into the project.