No abuse in project certification, supervisor consortium insists

The supervisor commissioned to oversee the certification process of the Manwel Dimech Bridge reconstruction project said yesterday his consortium was not involved in any wrongdoing, contrary to the impression he said had been given by the Roads Ministry on Thursday.

Suspicion of fraud emerged from an e-mail discovered by architect Robert Sant, whose consortium was entrusted with the inspection, design, supervision and certification of works.

Writing on behalf of the consortium, formed by Design and Technical Resources Ltd (DTR) and Konig, Heunisch and Partner (KHP), Mr Sant insisted that the suspected fraud did not involve any wrongdoing on their part.

On Thursday, Transport Minister Austin Gatt asked the police to investigate suspected fraud in the certification of the work carried out on the bridge.

The e-mail in question appears to have been sent by the Portuguese engineer responsible for certifying the bridge to his boss, the leading Italian contractor in the consortium entrusted with the civil works.

Despite the suspected abuse, the authorities insist the bridge is safe although maintenance costs may rise.

In his letter, Mr Sant explained that his consortium had been tasked with supervising the certification of the works on the bridge. Another consortium of contractors had been entrusted with the civil works, using their own engineers.

DTR and KHP's terms of engagement established that as supervisors, they had to oversee the issuing of the final certification, once works on the bridge were completed. This certification would include an analysis of all the works carried out by the contractors and technical data received.

The documentation required to enable DTR and KHP to complete the certification exercise was submitted by the contractors on October 8. Included in the documentation, Mr Sant said, the supervisor found correspondence which showed that incorrect information and technical data had been submitted during the course of the works by the contractors' foreign engineer on the bridge's post-tension operations.

DTR and KHP said they regretted the erroneous impression emanating from the title given in the ministry's statement and subsequent reports, which said the suspicion of fraud was directly linked to the certification of the bridge, implying wrongdoing on the part of DTR and KHP as the consortium entrusted with certification.

Project manager Malcolm Gingell, who works for contractor Bonnici Brothers, preferred not to comment at this stage in order to let police investigations take their course, he said when contacted yesterday.

Efforts to contact Bonnici Brothers proved futile.