The 78 luxury Volvo cars which this month will be used in two international summits to ferry around the island monarchs, presidents, heads of government and other dignitaries, will be up for grabs at the end of the events, the Times of Malta is informed.

How the Times of Malta reported the sale in 2005.

Mirroring what happened 10 years ago when Malta hosted its first-ever CHOGM summit, the official cars used will be auctioned to the public, with part of the income going to the annual charity telethon organised by the Malta Community Chest Fund.

Although officially a spokesman for the CHOGM task force refused to confirm that the cars will be auctioned in December, government sources said that the plan is “a copy of what happened in 2005”.

“We will be following the exact pattern of 2005 and plans are already in hand so that an official announcement on the holding of this auction will be made at the beginning of December,” government sources told this newspaper. The only difference from 10 years ago is that, this time round, Volvo will be providing the cars instead of BMWs which were used 10 years ago.

An announcement on the holding of this auction will be made at the beginning of December

A spokesman for Gasan­Zammit Motors Ltd, which will be providing the 78 cars as part of a sponsorship, also refused to confirm the auction. The car supplier, who was chosen directly by the CHOGM task force following various proposals received from major car importers, will be recuperating the cost of the cars as part of the same auction.

Asked to state how the selection of the cars was made, a spokesman for the CHOGM task force said that no tender procedure was used as the cars were not purchased.

“The cars are being supplied as part of a sponsorship agreement, and there are no costs related [to the government],” the spokesman said.

Contacted by this newspaper, other major importers of high-end luxury cars confirmed that they too had put forward proposals to the CHOGM task force.

However, they said that they did not know on what basis was the final selection by CHOGM made.

Following the 2005 summit, the 59 BMWs were all sold in less than three hours for more than €4.6 million. A total of €1.4 million was given to L-Istrina 2005 which served as a welcome bonus for that year’s telethon.