The supplier of stone cladding for the new Parliament building in Valletta has strongly denied allegations of supplying inferior quality material.
A company spokesman accused the Italian contractor making the allegations of trying to find a pretext to wriggle out of paying its dues.
Halmann Vella Group chief executive officer Joseph Tabone told the Times of Malta the same test results being quoted by CFF Filiberti srl when making the allegations showed exactly the opposite of what he had told The Sunday Times of Malta last week.
“CFF Filiberti is misusing statistics in a bid to avoid paying his dues,” Mr Tabone said when contacted in the wake of the allegations by the Italian contractor responsible for cladding the façade of the Parliament building.
The Italian firm accused Q Stone Ltd, the supplier, of providing inferior quality stone and hiding the quality tests it commissioned.
Although it did discard some of the stone supplied because some holes and cracks were noted, the Italian supplier could not say whether the stone used to clad the building met the required standards, having not been privy to the test results at the time.
Mr Tabone said the test results, which, he pointed out, were in CFF Filiberti’s possession from the outset, painted a completely different picture to the one it was trying to portray.
CFF Filiberti is misusing statistics in a bid to avoid paying its dues
“The data show that more than 96 per cent of the stone was in conformity with the approved quality assurance and quality control plan and met the requirements laid out in the contract,” he insisted.
Asked for assurances on safety, Mr Tabone said: “We can only vouch for the quality of the stone we provided.”
He noted that Q Stone was not a subsidiary of Halmann Vella Group but had been formed by one of its directors after renowned architect Renzo Piano insisted on using Maltese stone to clad the majestic building he had designed at the entrance to Valletta.
BIB JV, the joint venture that had been selected by the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation as the firm responsible for the entire project, also rejected CFF Filiberti’s claims.
It said the Italian firm not only had access to documentation certifying the stone that was used but had at no point ordered the work to be stopped because of poor quality stone.
Mr Tabone said the selection of stone made available by the supplier was the sole prerogative of CFF Filiberti, which used to carry out its own tests and choose which boulders be sent to its plant in Parma where they were cut into different shapes and sizes.
“CFF Filiberti was contractually and morally bound to conduct its own tests if there were doubts about the quality of the stone,” he added.
He said Q Stone Ltd only had a €550,000 stake from the €14 million contract for one of the phases of the Parliament project. Of these, CFF Filiberti had only paid about €300,000 and there were several pending court cases for the rest to be settled.
Following the publication of the report on The Sunday Times of Malta, Q Stone Ltd filed another court case claiming damages to its reputation as a result of CFF Filiberti’s “damaging” demands.