A former supermarket chain co-owned by the Deputy Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Carmen Sammut, had been pursued by the Inland Revenue Department for unpaid taxes and penalties totalling €2.9 million, the Times of Malta has learnt.
When contacted about the matter a few days ago, Ms Sammut said she could “positively confirm that the company in question had no outstanding dues of any kind”. She did not respond to a follow-up request asking for evidence that the tax dues had been settled.
The tax authorities had stepped up their pursuit of unpaid taxes by Pirella Supermarkets Ltd through a judicial letter in 2017, demanding the immediate payment of €861,200 in unpaid taxes and €2.1 million in interest and penalty fees.
The tax arrears cover the years 2005-2012 when Ms Sammut was both a director and shareholder of the family-owned firm. She had resigned from the board of directors in September 2017. Last year, the Inland Revenue Department had filed another judicial letter, again demanding the company settle the€2.9 million tax bill.
The company in question had no outstanding dues of any kind
Pirella is also known to be in breach of the Companies Act because the last time it filed accounts was in 2005, according to the registry of the Malta Financial Services Authority. Companies are obliged by law to submit annual audited accounts to the MFSA.
Ms Sammut did not reply to questions why no audited accounts had been filed for over a decade.
Apart from the shares in Pirella, she also has a number of other business interests, including an apartment block, which, until a few years ago, was being used as an unlicensed hotel. Ms Sammut and her husband and business partner, Mark Sammut, have since acquired the necessary licences to offer tourist accommodation.
Times of Malta last November flagged a potential conflict of interest over Ms Sammut’s sole shareholding of an IT company providing services at Mater Dei Hospital. Cursor Limited, owned by her husband, won a number of government contracts in recent years, including for the development of an electronic messaging system for Mater Dei. This company also provided services to the transport regulator when he served as a Transport Malta director.
Transport Malta had shrugged off complaints of conflict of interest saying Dr Sammut was not a director of the IT company and that his interests had been transferred to his wife.
jacob.borg@timesofmalta.com