Entrepreneur Anġlu Xuereb tabled an identical offer to that made by the government to pay €4.2 million of taxpayers’ money to buy back its public lease of Valletta’s iconic Cafe Premier, Times of Malta can reveal.
Mr Xuereb said the offer fell through because the company directors were asking for more, a sum he was not prepared to pay.
Four days after Mr Xuereb made this offer, Cafe Premier directors Mario Camilleri and Neville Curmi submitted a request to the government of €5.37 million as a starting point for discussions. This was after a meeting held with the Prime Minister on April 17, 2013, soon after the Labour Party was voted into power.
Addressing the shortcomings exposed by the National Audit Office related to the government’s negotiations on the Valletta property, Prime Minister Muscat has insisted the government was faced with two choices: lengthy court litigation or paying off the owners for the remainder of the lease agreement and recouping funds owed.
The NAO report tabled in Parliament was critical of the government’s lack of consideration of the legal option.
Taxpayers had paid €210,000in commissions
The Prime Minister’s stand ignores the report’s reference to negotiations between Cafe Premier directors and third parties that had already reached an advanced stage.
The report noted “an identical offer” was made on May 16, 2013, a time when government negotiations were still ongoing.
The report concluded there were various shortcomings in the government deal that “detract from the prudence expected” when deciding to undertake disbursements of such magnitude. The investigation was requested by the Opposition last year.
The NAO report noted that even though Mr Camilleri had informed the Prime Minister he was discussing the sale of the company with third parties, the government may not have been aware of the value of the offer. “Notwithstanding, Adviser OPM proceeded to state he sensed government’s offer of €3.97m was very close to this third party offer and that perhaps it was time for government to put forward a non-negotiable offer. To this end, the PM stated that the €3.97 (equivalent to €3.5 million net of tax) was in fact government’s final offer,” the report said.
The PN needs people who will stay the course in this hour of need
Times of Malta called one of the directors, Mr Curmi, in an attempt to shed light on the matter but he refused to comment.
The Auditor General said taxpayers had paid €210,000 in commissions to M&A Investments Limited, a company owned by one of the directors of Cafe Premier, Mr Camilleri, equivalent to five per cent of the transfer value.
Shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi said the Prime Minister did not need to spend taxpayers’ money because a private company had offered the exact same deal.
Poor governance and a lack of transparency were the hallmark of these negotiations, noted the NAO report, particularly the failure to involve the Government Property Division (known as the Land Department) early in the process of negotiation.
The Nationalist Party has demanded the Prime Minister come clean on his relationship with the company Cities Entertainment before and after the general election.
Deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami noted that Cafe Premier closed the day after the general election, shortly after it had requested a meeting with the government.