The government is denying that Mark Sammut – one of its directors on the Transport Malta board – has a conflict of interest by providing services to the authority through private companies in which he has an interest.
Times of Malta is in possession of invoices issued to Transport Malta for a number of IT-related services by two companies closely connected to Dr Sammut’s private business.
A spokeswoman for Transport Minister Joe Mizzi – who last year appointed Dr Sammut as one of the government’s representatives on the board of Transport Malta – said that the minister saw no conflict of interest.
Mr Sammut is neither a director nor a shareholder of the company
Initially denying any services were provided by Dr Sammut’s companies to Transport Malta, she then admitted that the government agency has a commercial contract with IT-company Mall Enterprises Ltd.
She did not specify what the contract covered or whether this was concluded when Dr Sammut was already sitting on the agency’s board of directors.
However, minister Joe Mizzi’s spokeswoman insisted that Dr Sammut is neither a director nor a shareholder of the company.
According to the MFSA’s companies’ registry, Dr Sammut is listed as the legal representative of Mall System Ltd and is the owner and sole shareholder of Cursor Ltd.
According to the invoices obtained by Times of Malta, Cursor Ltd also offers services to Transport Malta and is considered to be part and parcel of Mall Systems Ltd.
Both companies in fact not only share the same office building but also have the same letterhead for their invoices. Dr Sammut’s address in the company’s register is also the same as one of the shareholders of Mall Systems Ltd.
Efforts to contact Dr Sammut for a reaction proved futile even though a message was left with one of the shareholders of Mall Systems Ltd.
Last year, Dr Sammut was one of the main authors of the John Dalli report on the future of Mater Dei Hospital commissioned by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
Apart from his appointment on Transport Malta’s board, Dr Sammut was also appointed IT consultant to the Health Minister.