Transport Malta has turned down a request by the Times of Malta to publish a controversial contract it entered into with the General Workers’ Union even though it is using public funds to pay €500,000 a year to the union.

Turning down a Freedom of Information (FOI) request for a copy of the contract signed between Transport Malta and Paola Estates Ltd – a commercial company owned by the GWU – for the lease of part of the A3 Towers office block in Marsa, Transport Malta simply said that it cannot publish the contract.

“There is good reason for withholding the document requested,” Transport Malta said without explaining what the reasons were. At the same time, Transport Malta is quoting the same undisclosed contract when questioned over claims of breaches of the contract.

Last January, the Times of Malta revealed that despite assurances in Parliament by Transport Minister Joe Mizzi that the GWU will only start being paid for the offices in Marsa once they start being used by TM, payments of more than €120,000 have been made to the GWU. Confronted by this information, a spokesman for Transport Malta confirmed that this was the case despite the minister’s previous assurances.

“Transport Malta is strictly adhering to the contract it has with Paola Estates and the only payment made was in line with the contractual obligation,” the spokesman said.

Contract involves company owned by GWU

Asked to provide a copy of the contract in order to back its claims, the spokesman refused.

Now, the government agency headed by James Piscopo – the former CEO of the Labour Party – has also turned down another request under the FOI Act.

A similar request for the contract had already been turned down by the Transport Minister following a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Toni Bezzina.

Soon after Labour returned to power, Transport Malta had issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to lease new office space.

Six submissions were made and despite that it was not the cheapest, Transport Malta selected an uninhabited building owned by the GWU in Marsa to use as its offices.

According to the “minimum conditions” of the RFP, the offerors had to submit buildings that would be ready by September 2014.

Despite that the GWU’s building was still in shell form, TM still decided to choose the union’s offer in exchange for a €500,000 lease payment a year.

When the September 2014 deadline was missed, Mr Mizzi had said that it was due to some changes requested by Transport Malta itself.

He also said that the building in Marsa would be ready by September of the following year and payments would only start being made when TM officers began working from the building.

A year later, in September 2015, the GWU had still not met the new deadline.

Asked again for an explanation, a TM spokesman blamed the contractor engaged by the GWU to finish the refurbishment works and said that further delays were caused by the theft of all the wiring in the building.

TM only started occupying the building a few weeks ago.

ESTABLISHED PROCEDURE FOLLOWED - TRANSPORT MALTA

In a statement this afternoon, TM said:

"The said contract has been signed following rigorous procedures guided by the Department of Contracts.

"All decisions taken by Transport Malta, because of delays in making use of the building, were in line with contractual obligations and established procedures.

"The contract is, of course, commercially sensitive. It cannot be published yet. This is the established procedure that has always been followed. Your article implies otherwise."

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