The Magistrates’ Court, in its civil jurisdiction and presided over by Magistrate Francesco Depasquale, was on Monday presented with a copy of an internal government memo signed by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo authorising €418,000 in extra payments to a contractor working on a new government school in Qormi.
Mr Bartolo filed libel proceedings against the Times of Malta over an article, ‘Minister’s decision “doubled tender’s costs for college work” ’, in January 2017.
The report’s author, Ivan Camilleri, on Monday testified that it was based on a thorough investigation carried out by the newspaper and was backed by all the necessary documents proving the facts cited in it.
Mr Camilleri said that from the investigations carried out it had resulted that in 2015, the minister authorised the payment of some €418,000 in extra payments to Avantgarde Projects Ltd over and above the value of the original tender won by the contractor to carry out tiling and other works at St Ignatius College in Qormi.
Mr Camilleri said that while the FTS documents, presented in court, showed that the foundation did not want to settle the new claims made by the contractor, as it deemed that Avantgarde had not adhered to the original terms of the contract and charged “rates significantly higher than those in the tender document and claimed payment for material which was never supplied”, Mr Bartolo had overruled the agency’s board by approving a memorandum on the issue prepared by then permanent secretary within his ministry Joseph Caruana.
Mr Camilleri said that despite the minister overruling the board and authorising the payment to settle the issue “out of court”, it resulted that the new FTS chairman appointed by Mr Bartolo, architect Samuel Formosa, had opposed the minister’s direction and said that the board had already decided to “go to arbitration” on the issue.
Furnishing the court with an e-mail exchange between the ministry and the FTS on the settlement of this payment after the ministerial direction, Mr Camilleri said Mr Caruana ordered Mr Formosa in writing to “effect payment without further delay”.
Mr Camilleri also presented the court with another e-mail in which Mr Caruana copied his brother, Edward, in an e-mail message he sent to the FTS chairman ordering the payment of €418,000 in funds to the contractor.
Mr Caruana’s e-mail to his brother was marked “confidential”.
Mr Camilleri also told the court that Edward Caruana – a chief canvasser of Mr Bartolo’s employed at the FTS to take care of school works – was currently facing corruption charges in court due to alleged kickbacks from FTS contracts.
At the same time, Joseph Caruana had been removed from the post of permanent secretary at the Education Ministry.
The case continues.