Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg signed a contract with Redmap Projects Ltd for the construction of his controversial dwelling in Santa Katerina in Rabat eight months after the start of the actual works on site, the Times of Malta is informed.

Last year, following the controversial approval of Dr Borg’s permit by Mepa, a billboard affixed to the construction site indicated Redmap as the lead contractor for the works which started in February.

The billboard that names Redmap as lead contractor. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Replying to questions from the Times of Malta, Dr Borg said the delay in signing the contract was due to problems found while digging the foundations at the construction site and the remedial works that had to be done before Redmap could start its work.

He said that whilst Redmap Projects Ltd were engaged to start works in February – following the demolition work carried out by Central Asphalt - investigations by Terracore Ltd indicated problems in foundations at construction site. Hence Ballut Ltd had to intervene.

Works by Redmap Projects Ltd started in October 2015, Dr Borg said, 'and the contract of works was thus signed accordingly.'

Redmap, a Żabbar-based construction company, was catapulted into the news a few days ago after one of its owners, Pierre Sladden, was mentioned in the Panama Papers as having used Nexia BT and Mossack Fonseca to open a company in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands.

Redmap was catapulted into the news after one of its owners, Pierre Sladden, was mentioned in the Panama Papers

Following the revelation, the tax compliance unit was ordered to start a probe on possible tax evasion by Mr Sladden and his companies.

Last Monday, the Times of Malta asked Dr Borg to provide the newspaper with a list of the contractors engaged on his project and a list of payments made.

After sending his replies to this newspaper on Tuesday evening, Dr Borg decided to go public with the details, presenting the replies given to the Times of Malta in Parliament. In a statement, he told MPs that since he had nothing to hide, he wanted to be as transparent as possible and publicly share the information he had been asked to provide by this newspaper.

Dr Borg invited PN deputy leader Mario de Marco, who is using the same contractor for a construction project in Naxxar, to follow his example.

From the information provided, it resulted that Dr Borg engaged Redmap as his lead contractor while other companies, namely Central Asphalt Ltd, Ballut Blocks and Terracore, carried out the preparatory works of demolition and preparation of the foundations.

Dr Ian Borg

Apart from being one of the contractors chosen by both the Parliamentary Secretary and the PN’s deputy leader, Redmap also did work on the building of the new printing facility of Progress Press in Mrieħel. While Mr Sladden’s firm was responsible for the construction, Kasco Engineering, owned by Mr Schembri, was responsible for the supply of plant and machinery of the multi-million facility after winning a tender.

In a damning report issued last December, then Ombudsman Joseph Said Pullicino said that his office had concluded that Dr Borg’s permit was not regular and needed to be corrected. The office of the Ombudsman recommended a review of Dr Borg’s permit for the construction of the Rabat dwelling after having established that “policies were incorrectly applied by Mepa”.

The report was later endorsed by the Commission against Corruption.

Mepa had rejected these conclusions and decided not to review the permit and according to the Ombudsman, the Prime Minster also failed to order a review of Dr Borg’s permit.