Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela has asked the Auditor General to investigate an €880,000 direct order given by his ministry for the updating of the IT system at the prison.

His action follows an Opposition announcement last week that it would request such an investigation.

The direct order was given to Infinite Fusion Technologies.  

Mr Abela told a press conference that the upgrading works needed to be carried out with urgency, after years of neglect.

GO plc had for a long number of years provided integrated telecommunications services to the prisons, but it could not continue to do so. One of the companies that used to be sub-contracted for the works was Infinite Fusion Technologies, hence the choice for the direct order.

READ: Auditor General to be asked to investigate €880,000 direct order

Mr Abela denied claims that the direct order was given to a constituent.

The direct order has been heavily criticised by Shadow Justice Minister Jason Azzopardi.

He said last week that the company would have been excluded from public tenders had a call been made, as the last time it filed audited financial statements was back in 2012.