The Gozitan subcontractor supplying stone to the Italian company responsible for works on the new Parliament “strongly denies” it is responsible for delays in the completion of the building.

Q Stone Ltd filed a counter protest against Cff Filiberti Srl, holding the Italian company responsible as it “clearly” did not have the funds to pay the money that it owed to subcontractors.

The firm said it continues to supply the stone even though Filiberti owes it some €250,000.

There were times when the Italian company did not send anyone to pick up the blocks, it said.

Q Stone reserved the right to halt the service and to sue the company for damages. It called on the company to retract the false claims made.

Last week Filiberti filed a judicial protest against Q Stone, whose tender had been chosen by the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation to supply blocks to cover the building’s facade and interiors.

It clearly doesn’t have the funds to pay its subcontractors

Filiberti claimed the Gozitan company, which was providing the stone from a quarry in Qala, did not deliver within the established time frames and it had to face a €1,000 per day fine as a result of the delays.

It said Q Stone had not yet supplied the quantity agreed, with 60 cubic metres left to be delivered from a total of 2,000 cubic metres.

In comments from his plant in Parma, company director Michele Filiberti had told Times of Malta that one of the reasons for the delay was the continuous shortage of stone.

The material was being shipped in large blocks to the plant where it was cut into thousands of different forms and shipped back to Malta.

On Monday Times of Malta reported that three subcontractors were claiming that FDS Stone, owned by the Filiberti brothers, had not paid them for more than a year and racked up a debt of more than €375,000.

The new Parliament building, designed by world-renowned architect Renzo Piano, was meant to have been operational by the end of September.