Denise Agius, the wife of Robert Agius, received €207,000 from We Media as “consultancy fees” and “wages”, as well as a €24,000 “loan advance”.
Robert Agius received a €4,975 payment from We Media, and a suspected further €6,000 from a company linked to We Media’s owner.
Evidence in police possession suggests Jamie Vella funnelled payments to the partner of a convicted drug trafficker with the aid of We Media.
We Media owner Edmond Mugliette (also appearing as Mugliett) is subject to an investigation order on “reasonable suspicion” of money laundering and handling the proceeds of crime. The probe is ongoing.
Transaction records show that production company We Media sent €207,000 to Denise Agius, the wife of Robert Agius, one of the Maksar brothers, in 63 separate transfers between November 2016 and September 2021.
The payments were listed for “consultancy fees”, “wages”, as well as a €24,000 “loan advance”. By August 2019, Agius was receiving a monthly net salary of €4,000.
Denise Agiuse – Source: Times of Malta
The trial and eventual conviction of Robert Agius, Adrian Agius and Jamie Vella have shone a light on the family business operations, which authorities suspect of having ties to international organised crime groups.
Public documents analysed by Amphora Media, OCCRP, and The Times of Malta reveal Denise’s property deals and private loans, all while holding jobs ranging from hairdresser in Rabat to consultant at We Media.
Robert Agius also received a €4,975 payment from We Media Ltd. for “camera equipment”. Information in the possession of investigators shows that Agius received an additional €6,000 for the same reason from another company where Mugliette is a nominal shareholder.
The transactions were found mixed among legitimate business transactions by We Media.
We Media – Source: Times of Malta
Encrypted communication in the possession of investigators suggests that Jamie Vella, another suspected gang member, funnelled payments to a convicted drug trafficker with the aid of We Media.
Vella communicated with drug trafficker Ronnie Galea about money on several instances in 2020. As proof of payment, Vella sent Galea three bank transfer confirmation documents from We Media’s Bank of Valletta account. The transfer confirmation documents sent by Vella were printed by “Edmond Mugliette”.
Asked about the transactions, BOV’s representative said, “the Bank is unable to comment publicly on client matters due to data protection regulations. We reaffirm that we have in place very strong due diligence and credit governance processes that meet regulatory requirements and expectations.”
Jamie Vella – Source: Times of Malta
Neither Vella’s lawyer nor Mugliette replied to reporters’ questions.
Transaction records show that We Media transferred funds to Edina Szegvari. Galea’s Facebook posts indicate that he’s in a romantic relationship with a woman by that name.
Investigation documents list several recipients of funds from Denise and Robert: one of them is Edina Szegvari, who received €1,000 from each of them, in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Jamie Vella and Adrian Agius are also listed among recipients of funds from Denise Agius.
Denise Agius, Szegvari and Galea did not respond to reporters’ questions.
Robert Agius, his brother Adrian, and Vella have long been suspected of leading the Maltese operations of an international criminal network suspected of drugs and contraband trafficking, weapons smuggling, and other crimes.
Robert Agius and Jamie Vella have been found guilty of complicity in the car-bomb assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Adrian Agius has been found guilty of the murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop in a case which counted Vella and hitman George Degiorgio as accomplices. Neither of the brothers’ lawyers responded to reporters’ questions.
Robert Agius – Source: Times of Malta
Owner under investigation
We Media’s owner, Edmond Mugliette, is the subject of multiple intelligence reports focusing on suspect financial transactions and, according to one July 2022 report, “participation in an organised criminal group.”
In March 2022, a court authorised an investigation order sought by the Attorney General compelling all local banks and financial institutions to hand over any financial information they have on Mugliette, We Media, and five other companies linked to him.
The order was approved due to a “reasonable suspicion” that Mugliette was involved in money laundering and handling the proceeds of crime.
Sources familiar with the investigation told Times of Malta that the probe is “ongoing” and the police have already questioned Mugliette.
Another intelligence report details how Mugliette was caught with €38,000 in undeclared cash while travelling from Malta to Türkiye in December 2021. The cash stash, according to the report, included €30,000 worth of €500 notes.
Eurozone banks ceased issuing €500 notes in 2019, amid concerns that the notes facilitated the transportation of large amounts of cash by criminals.
The police and customs spokespersons did not reply to reporters’ questions.
Edmond Mugliett
A January 2022 intelligence report indicates that Mugliette was helping Denise Agius recover money owed to her husband by James Zammit, whose company provided a €1.3 million loan to Ages Investment, a company owned by Denise.
According to the report, Robert Agius used to give Zammit, a car dealer, vehicles to sell on his behalf, thereby preventing his name from appearing on any paperwork. Denise Agius was seeking to close the business relationship.
Mugliette met with Zammit to terminate the “business relationship” so that funds that belonged to Robert Agius are transferred into Denise’s account, the report states. In response, James Zammit said the meeting was about a loan and not about car business.
“I categorically deny any involvement – not only to the fact that I never did any illicit trade with the said Maksar gang, but also with anyone,” Zammit said in response to reporters’ questions, adding, “our companies have gone public in 2024, entailing a very meticulous 14-month DD [due diligence] exercise by FIAU, MFSA, Malta Stock Exchange and other bodies, which as you surely know work in tandem with the police prior to any such public call.”
Robert and Adrian Agius, known as the Maksar brothers, generated millions through property deals and private loan agreements.
The Maksar brothers and their accomplice Jamie Vella are placed in a trafficking network with international organised crime groups.
Loans, car deals, and real estate transactions masked the brothers’ operations.
Ages Investments Ltd., whose sole shareholder is Denise Agius, Robert’s wife, handled over €2.5 million in property and loans.
Deals continued even after the Agius brothers were charged with the murders of Daphne Caruana Galizia and Carmel Chircop.
Maksars appear to have leveraged indirect streams to sidestep financial oversight, including:
Property deals and private loans with Brian Cutajar, who helped settle debts linked to the Chircop murder.
James Zammit and his Finance House issued a €1.3 million loan to Ages Investments.
Businessman Hugo Chetcuti issued a private loan to the Maksar family and purchased a boat yard from them.
Two helmeted gunmen push through the doors of a Birkirkara bar. Shots are fired. Raymond Agius, a suspected contraband smuggler, is murdered, leaving behind a wife and two sons, Adrian and Robert Agius.
Over the next decade or so, the brothers, known by their family nickname Tal-Maksar, amassed a fortune through suspect property deals, private loans and various enterprises, with the assistance of family members and financial instruments.
Investigators have placed the Agius brothers, along with co-convicted Jamie Vella, within a sprawling international trafficking network of fuel, cigarettes, and drugs – with ties to organised crime groups in the UK, the Netherlands, Albania and Libya.
At one point, a document in the possession of investigators shows that the family claimed to hold almost €9 million in assets and an annual turnover of €1.7 million.
Robert Agius – Source: Times of Malta
Robert Agius, a self-declared taxi driver from at least 2013 to 2018, had his assets frozen multiple times. First, from 2013 to 2018, over cigarette smuggling charges, and then from 2017 to 2020 over a 2012 heroin smuggling case. He was cleared in both cases.
Robert and his brother Adrian, at one point clients of Prime Minister Robert Abela, also had their assets frozen after being arrested for the murders of Daphne Caruana Galizia and Carmel Chircop in February 2021, when they were both listed as working in construction.
Robert has since been found guilty of supplying the bomb that murdered Caruana Galizia, and Adrian has been found guilty of the murder of Chircop. They have been sentenced to life in prison.
Adrian Agius – Source: Times of Malta
Each moment could have marked an end to the brothers’ illicit financial activities. However, their operations appear to have merely shifted course into the hands of Robert’s wife, Denise, who investigators suspect was a regular collaborator, and a company called Ages Investments Ltd., which was set up months after Robert’s assets were frozen in 2017.
Official records, public registry filings, and other documents analysed by OCCRP, Amphora Media, Times of Malta, and IrpiMedia have uncovered how Denise, an associate and accomplice, played a central role in acquiring, financing and selling off properties worth millions.
The documents further expose how the brothers and their family members employed private loans and property deals to finance their operations, and often used the same channels, including Brian Cutajar, James Zammit, and the murdered tycoon Hugo Chetcuti.
Neither of the brothers’ lawyers responded to the reporters’ questions. Hugo Chetcuti’s heirs could also not be reached for comment. Meanwhile, James Zammit replied to “categorically deny any involvement – not only to the fact that I never did any illicit trade with the said Maksar gang, but also with anyone.”
Maksar, Denise Agius, and Ages Investments: €2.5 Million in Real Estate Deals, a €1.3 Million Loan, High-Value Cars and a We Media ‘job’
Ages Investments Ltd. was registered in 2017, five months after Robert’s assets were frozen, with Denise listed as the sole shareholder. Denise and Robert, married in 2011, have a separation of assets.
From 2019, the company acted as a vehicle for several asset purchases and sales. Between 2021 and 2024, it sold €1.3 million in assets.
Police and intelligence records analysed by reporters indicate she has worked as a hairdresser, making 50 euros a day, and that before registering Ages Investment, she told a bank she was a bingo hall cashier or receptionist.
Denise Agius did not reply to requests for comment.
Denise Agiuse – Source: Times of Malta
The company’s first significant activity was the purchase of a €470,000 villa in Baħrija, listed as the registered residence of Robert Agius, from James Zammit’s company. Zammit has been involved in several other transactions with Ages Investments & the Agius family.
Ages Investments would purchase €765,000 worth of assets between March and October 2020, with the aid of a €1.29 million loan through Finance House p.l.c. Zammit, who is managing director at Finance House, said that only €892,000 of the loan was utilised.
Some of the transactions happened while Robert Agius was subject to a freezing order, and ended around four months before both Agius brothers were charged in connection with the murders of Carmel Chircop and Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The brothers are believed to have had informants within the police force.
In a secret testimony to a public inquiry, ex-assistant police commissioner Ian Abdilla admitted that the Agius brothers “are well connected within the police to be honest. Well-connected within customs, and well-connected with politicians from both sides”.
The police spokesperson did not reply to reporters’ questions.
Over the period, Ages Investments acquired:
A garage in Qawra (€30,000);
Airspace to develop apartments in Rabat for €300,000;
Airspace to develop a maisonette and apartment in Mosta for €185,000;
The purchase of a penthouse in St Paul’s Bay for €250,000 from a company owned by Adrian Agius, Denise’s brother-in-law.
The €1.29 million loan James Zammit’s Finance House issued to Ages Investments Ltd financed several other deals, including:
Payment on the remaining €270,000 balance on Zammit’s Baħrija property;
Acquisition of a portion of land along Triq L-Imdina;
Acquisition of a Mercedes GTR worth €190,000;
Acquisition of the two sites in St Paul’s Bay, including Adrian’s apartment;
And settling outstanding €330,000 debts.
Denise Agius. Photos from social media
The loan, of which Zammit says only €892,000 was utilised, was guaranteed on a property subject to the lifelong usufruct of Polly Agius, known as Paola or Pauline, who is the mother of Robert and Adrian Agius, and their co-shareholder in Ter-Nova Holdings, and numerous other companies with her sons.
Polly Agius could not be reached for comment via the family’s lawyers.
Zammit categorically denied any involvement or complicity with the brothers’ criminal activities, stressing that his companies had undergone a “meticulous” due diligence process and had been subject to audits.
He added that there were no freezing orders or criminal proceedings against Denise that would have been flagged by their AML specialist. Denise and Ages Investment were not subject to any freeze order.
“The time has now come to discuss a settlement plan with Ages Investments Ltd for the full outstanding amount plus interest and charges,” Zammit said.
Zammit also said that since some of the facility covered a debt which was secured by Pauline Agius, it meant that she had “ a direct interest in acting as guarantor”.
Ages Investment continued its activities beyond the brothers’ arrest and further asset freezes.
In 2021, Ages bought land in St Paul’s Bay and Ħaż-Żebbuġ worth a total of €460,000. Between 2021 and 2024, the company sold four properties for a total of €1.09 million, through separate projects in St Paul’s Bay, Mosta, and Rabat.
Investigators suspected Denise was representing Robert in the Żebbuġ deal.
Denise, Robert and Adrian acquired several high-value vehicles
Between 2010 and 2017, Denise acquired and transferred 14 cars, and as of December 2017, had four more registered in her name.
One of the car transfers involved Adelina Pop, the then-partner of George Degiorgio, who has pleaded guilty to murdering Daphne Caruana Galizia.
In 2017, Denise transferred her car, valued at €55,000, to Adelina – and raised suspicions among investigators. Pop did not reply to questions about the transfers.
Court sittings have revealed that seven vehicles, valued at approximately between €184,000 and €213,700, were found in Robert’s possession when he was arrested in 2021.
Sources have also described how Robert and Adrian controlled several high-value vehicles over the years.
Nine cars, including a Mercedes and a BMW, were acquired by Robert over one calendar year, with one car bought and sold on the same day.
The moving of assets by companies owned by the brothers or their family members highlights possible shortcomings in Malta’s enforcement of financial crime regulations, experts said.
Kathryn Westmore, who leads the financial crime policy work of the UK NGO Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), said the transactions should have attracted the scrutiny of banking compliance teams.
“If you are banking [Ages Investment] you need to ask what are the purposes of the loans and transactions, what is their commercial rationale. If you’re a bank that has that company as a client, you would hope that your [client] onboarding process would pick up the links to someone under an asset freeze, and then the transactions would merit further investigation; you need to check someone’s made sure they have a legitimate purpose,” she said.
Manfred Galdes, the former head of Malta’s Financial Intelligence Unit, said “freezing orders very often fail to identify the assets that might have already been transferred to third parties. If not preceded by a parallel financial investigation that traces the movement of assets, the effectiveness of the freezing order is extremely limited.”
Any failure to trace and target assets means that there would be “lots of gaps for people to transfer assets to companies,” he added.
Leaked transaction records also show that We Media, one of Malta’s most prominent media companies, which has produced shows like Xarabank, acted as a facilitator, sending €207,000 to Denise in 63 separate transfers between November 2016 and September 2021, registering her as a full-time employee.
This includes a €4,000 per month ‘salary’ she received between August 2019 and September 2021 as ‘wages’ and ‘consultancy fees,’ as well as €24,000 as a ‘loan advance’.
Robert Agius also received a €4,975 payment from WeMedia Ltd. for “camera equipment”. Information in the possession of investigators suggests that Agius received an additional €6,000 for this from another company where Mugliette is a nominal shareholder.
Neither We Media nor its owner Edmond Mugliette replied to requests for comment.
We Media – Source: Times of Malta
A Web of Different Money Flows: From Carmel Chircop to Brian Cutajar, James Zammit and Hugo Chetcuti
The story of the Agius empire does not begin—or end—with Ages Investments. Rather, it was the latest vehicle to generate and move funds throughout the years.
George Degiorgio – Source: Times of Malta
The murder of Carmel Chircop: More Supermarkets & the villa in Bahar ic-Caghaq
Documents seen by journalists lay out several transactions linked to the failed More Supermarket venture, of which Adrian Agius was a shareholder, and the €750,000 debt tied to the murder of Carmel Chircop.
Adrian and his partners in More Supermarkets, which included Ryan Schembri, who has since been charged with fraud, had taken out €2.8 million across four loans from Banif. In all the loans, property belonging to Agius, including a villa in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, is listed as collateral.
In March 2014, Adrian received a further €750,000 loan from Chircop, with the same villa also listed as collateral.
Chircop was murdered a year and a half later on Adrian’s orders. The legal procurator told the court that Chircop was requesting to take over the villa at the time of his murder.
Self-confessed collaborator Vince Muscat, who said he participated in reconnaissance before the murder, told the court that Adrian Agius was especially keen to have Chircop killed and would pull him [Muscat] aside and tell him “Cens, come on let’s get it over and done with.”
According to court experts’ testimony, the constitution of debt, a formal contract recognising the amount owed by Adrian Agius and two bills of exchange, signed by Schembri, were found locked in the drawer in Chircop’s office.
The entire debt was waived in 2017, with his widow receiving a €165,000 payment with the help of Brian Cutajar, who purchased the property off Agius for €1.8 million in September 2017, a month before the murder of Caruana Galizia.
Data indicates that Adrian and Robert Agius regularly employed a constitution of debt, which is a formal, notarised document that acknowledges an existing debt between a debtor and a creditor.
Unlike traditional lending facilities, it does not involve the same level of bank paperwork or due diligence checks, making it vulnerable to misuse.
The loans are often repaid and cancelled quickly, sometimes even within months. Certain legal instruments in Malta, such as the constitution of debt, are not obliged to be done in the presence of lawyers or notaries, so there is no one to verify whether the debt is real.
Carmel Chircop
The Brian Cutajar Connection: Million euro loans and payments
Brian Cutajar, part-owner of Regina Auto Dealer, is identified as participating in several Maksar deals and financing.
Over the course of more than a decade, he and his family provided loans and engaged in property deals that enabled the Maksar network to accumulate substantial wealth.
According to documents, the families bought and sold property together since at least 2005. However, they would later use private loans and property transfers to shuffle equity and funds.
Between 2010 and 2012, Brian Cutajar and his wife, Roseanne, issued five private loans to Ter-Nova Properties Limited, totalling almost €1.29 million.
Some of the loans were paid back in full within a year or so, while the entire debt was settled by 2017, official property records show. Ter-Nova Properties Limited is owned by both Agius brothers and their mother via a holding company.
A Maltese court had also once rejected a warrant of prohibitory injunction that Cutajar, through Regina Auto Dealer, filed against the family over a “manu brevi loan” of €500,000 he claimed to have provided. That loan, unlike a constitution of debt, would not require filing and signing by a notary.
The case did not burn bridges between the two families. In 2017, the same year the Agius family settled their debt with the Cutajars, Brian Cutajar purchased the Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq villa for €1.8 million, and settled the €165,000 debt that Agius had eventually settled with Chircop’s widow, according to court testimonies.
James Zammit: The €1.29 million loan and other deals
The financial relationship between the Agius family and James Zammit dates back over a decade and extends beyond the 2019 property purchase and the €1.29 million loan in 2020.
Transactions between the Agius brothers and Zammit date back to 2014, when Zammit provided around €335,000 worth of loans through separate companies.
In 2014, Zammit lent Adrian Agius €108,000, with an apartment in St. Paul’s Bay serving as collateral. Agius would sell the apartment one month later for €140,000 – and repay Zammit the same year.
Two months later, a separate firm controlled by Zammit lent Agius a further €230,000, with the Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq villa again being used as collateral. On the same day, Adrian Agius sold a 1,000 sqm piece of land in Naxxar, known as ta’ Xmajna, to Zammit’s company for the cut price of €20,000.
Zammit stated that the transaction involved a promise of sale he signed to acquire Agius’ Massiabelle Villa in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq. He said that he had paid a €230,000 deposit and would pay the remaining €1.1 million within a year. He said that the deal fell through once he discovered significant loans on the property from Banif Bank and Carmel Chircop.
Eventually, Zammit agreed to acquire the ta’ Xmajna land and several cars as settlement of the amount due.
Several transactions around the murder of Chircop in 2015 have raised investigators’ eyebrows.
In September 2015, BNF issued a €250,000 bank draft to Oyster Trust in the name of Pauline Agius, reportedly intended to settle a banking facility related to More Supermarkets. Instead, the cheque was deposited into James Zammit’s account.
The bank declined to comment on client transactions. Still, it reiterated that it “has always acted within its legal rights and in full compliance with all applicable legal and regulatory banking requirements.”
A few days after the deposit, Zammit withdrew €150,000 in “cash to be kept at home” – and in October, he transferred a further €128,000 to an account belonging to his company.
Zammit confirmed the transaction but said that one of his licensed business activities included cashing cheques issued by the Government. He said it involved withdrawing sizable cash amounts, especially during particular periods of the month, to offer this service.
The Malta Financial Services Authority declined to comment on the specifics, but said, “Should any issues or potential breaches arise during such examinations, appropriate regulatory and enforcement action is taken in accordance with our mandate.”
Investigators also flagged several payments Finance House plc issued for the legal services of Keith Borg understood by investigators to be on behalf of Robert Agius and/or Denise Agius in May 2022.
Zammit categorically denied that he had ever paid for any legal services for anyone other than for “myself, my companies, my wife and/or children. The payment here mentioned was for a personal matter.”
The police did not reply regarding the status of the investigation.
Source: Times of Malta
Hugo Chetcuti & the Vella Farm
One significant transaction within the Agius’ portfolio that raised eyebrows was a series of payments from Hugo Chetcuti, a businessman murdered in July 2018, or his company, All Round Entertainment Ltd.
On 8th May 2014, Chetcuti handed the Agius brothers an €800,000 brevi-manu loan, with a farm in Magħtab, known as ‘Vella Farm’, listed as collateral. It was repaid with interest of 6% by the start of 2017.
A few months later, on 10th October 2014, the Agius brothers sold the farm to Hugo Chetcuti’s company for €700,000. The brothers had acquired the property in 2008, months after the death of their father.
That means Chetcuti transferred some €1.5 million to the Agius brothers over those few months. The deals happened while Robert was subject to the freezing order.
Chetcuti had various interests around the island, from nightclubs and strip clubs to restaurants. While his killer has been convicted, the motive was never established. His heirs and All Round Entertainment did not reply to reporters’ questions.
Joseph Portelli issued over €637,000 in payments to John Dalli, via their companies, between 2017 and 2022
A 2017 lease contract, which officials believe to have been forged, references COVID-19, almost three years before the pandemic was even declared.
Bank officials flagged irregularities, including continued payments after the lease ended.
Almost 30 companies had the same registered address as the lease agreement, including one reportedly linked to a Ponzi scheme.
Portelli denied “ever doing business” with John Dalli in a 2021 interview.
A backdated contract. Hundreds of thousands in unexplained payments. Banking officials believed transactions between former EU Commissioner John Dalli and developer Joseph Portelli were tied to a suspected financing agreement on Mercury Towers.
Bank records seen by Amphora Media and The Times of Malta show that Portelli’s Mercury Contracting Projects transferred at least €637,200 in annual payments to Dalli’s company, Tabor Consult, since 2017.
2017: €70,800
2018: €129,800
2019: €94,400
2020: €94,400
2021: €129,800
2022: €82,600
John Dalli refused to answer the specific questions sent regarding the contract and the discrepancies flagged by banking officials, saying it was “appalling” to ask him to provide documentation to counter the official report. He insisted that the report was an “inquisition” and told reporters, “you are ignorant of the business practices and the operations of professional offices”.
Joseph Portelli did not reply to questions sent.
Who is Joseph Portelli?
Raised in Canada, Joseph Portelli emerged as the poster boy for Malta’s development boom after Joseph Muscat swept to power in 2013, with his forays into sports club ownership, through Hamrun Spartans and Nadur Youngsters, bringing further attention.
He enjoys a close relationship with politicians and has boasted of his frequent meetings with them to “speed up the process” and “argue for [his] rights. The Shift News had revealed that Prime Minister Robert Abela even attended a fundraising dinner in Gozo organised by Portelli and his associates to support the Labour Party’s electoral campaign.
Who is John Dalli?
A Maltese accountant-turned-politician, Dalli served in a long line of Nationalist government cabinets between 1987 and 2010 under Eddie Fenech Adami and Lawrence Gonzi. He was later appointed European Commissioner in 2010 and resigned in 2012.
Dalli was forced to resign as EU Commissioner amid claims of bribery and trading in influence with a Swedish company in return for seeking to influence EU legislation. An anti-fraud investigation recommendations were forwarded to the Maltese judiciary, and a court case is ongoing. Dalli denies the charges.
After leaving the Commission, he was appointed as an official consultant to then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, shortly after he came to power in 2013.
The transactions raised concerns among officials, notably as Dalli’s Tabor Consult has never submitted audited accounts. Dalli established the company, a consultancy firm, in 2014, two years after he resigned from the EU Commission over bribery charges that are still underway.
The latter remains true today, with the Malta Business Registry confirming to Amphora Media that it had issued administrative penalties to Tabour Consult for failing to do so.
2017 Agreement Included COVID-19 Reference Two Years Before Pandemic
To justify the payments from Portelli, Dalli provided officials with a lease agreement dated the 30th June 2017, which claimed that Portelli’s Mercury Contracting Projects rented his office at Portomaso for €10,000 per month. The company indeed used this address from its incorporation in 2016 until 2024.
Officials believed that the agreement was retroactively edited or even forged. The 2017 contract included an explicit reference to COVID-19 in its force majeure clause—a full two years before the pandemic began.
Source: Times of Malta
Marcel Bonnici, the CEO of Mercury Towers, confirmed with Amphora Media that there was no contract when the lease began, and the one provided to authorities was produced retroactively. However, he insisted that there was “nothing suspicious in the nature of the agreement”, despite the reference to COVID-19.
An analysis by Amphora Media and The Times of Malta found that almost 30 companies shared the same registered address, many of which were during the period of the agreement.
Bonnici confirmed that the address was used as the registered office of several companies, but stated that it was “completely normal.”
These include several companies of Dalli, his daughters, and Portelli, including Tabor Consult and Mercury Towers, and other companies not linked to the payments, which include Vitals Global Healthcare’s Shaukat Ali.
The inquiry into the Vitals Global Healthcare/Steward hospitals deal revealed that Dalli and Ali had long-standing business ties, with Asad Ali, Shaukat’s son, once serving as a shareholder in Interactive International Corporation Limited, later Corporate International Consultancy Limited, alongside Dalli’s daughters, Louisa and Claire, in 2009. Dalli’s company also introduced Shaukat’s wife to HSBC.
Experts in the inquiry also believe that Dalli introduced Ali to former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his chief of staff, Keith Schembri.
Officials raised concerns over missing documentation to explain the transactions between Dalli and Portelli.
These include why payments continued for at least three years beyond the lease’s expiry, despite Dalli not providing an extension agreement; and why Portelli, a construction magnate with an extensive portfolio across Malta, would even need to rent the premises in the first place.
Meanwhile, documents show that Mercury Contracting Projects listed the Portomaso premises as its future official address in company documents almost nine months before the signing of the agreement.
Previous transaction reports had also flagged that Dalli was “lending funds to Mercury Towers” and charging an interest of more than the 8% allowed by law, and would not be subject to taxation. Authorities were informed. However, it appears the case did not progress further.
Source: Times of Malta
Questions about Mercury Towers’ finances, which have been raised on the back of several public bonds, are not new.
In 2024, developer Joseph Portelli floated a €20 million public bond to refinance part of the project’s debt with Bank of Valletta.
Company filings show liabilities reaching more than €190 million by 31 December 2023—more than twice the figure reported two years earlier. Assets rose in tandem, reaching €269 million, which is also approximately double the 2021 level.
Initially slated for completion in 2019, the development’s structural works were not finished until November 2023. Management then set a target for a full launch by the end of 2024, but that deadline has also been missed.
Conflicting Statements and Ongoing Probes: Portelli Said He Never Did Business With John Dalli
Despite the significant transactions, Portelli denied ever doing business with John Dalli in a September 2021 interview with the Times of Malta.
“I have never done business with John Dalli,” he said.
“Sixteen years ago, I had knocked on his door to tell him I wanted to develop projects in Libya. Shortly afterwards, he invited me to go with him on a trip to Libya to meet with people who would be interested in my projects. That’s how I know him.”
The data directly contradicts Portelli. At that point, at least €389,400 had been transferred between Portelli and Dalli’s companies.
There are further links between Portelli and Dalli. Notably, Claire Gauci Borda, Dalli’s daughter, serves as Chief Financial Officer at J Portelli Projects.
Gauci Borda faces separate legal difficulties, accused, along with her sister, of running a Ponzi scheme in a high-profile case that has also drawn intense media attention due to delays in prosecution.
Eloise Corbin (left) with John Dalli (centre) and his daughter Louisa Dalli (right)
Bank officials also raised concerns over the operations of Corporate Group Limited—another entity linked to Dalli and owned by his daughters, which is reportedly connected to the Ponzi scheme case.
The company transferred a €750,000 “loan” to Tabor Consult shortly before closing its bank account in mid-2018. This transaction heightened concerns among banking officials about possible money laundering or unreported financial arrangements.
Claire Gauci Borda and Louisa Dalli did not reply to the questions sent.
Malta’s investigative authorities were informed of the transaction. It appears no further action was taken. Both the Police and FIAU said they could not disclose or confirm information on such investigations.
BOV also said it was unable to comment publicly on client matters due to “data protection regulations”, but insisted it has “in place very strong due diligence and credit governance processes that meet regulatory requirements and expectations”.
Following publication, Mercury Towers Contracting Projects Ltd, owned by Joseph Portelli, categorically rejected “any insinuation of wrongdoing in relation to the commercial lease agreement our group of companies had with Tabor Consult”.
In the statement, Mercury admitted that the lease provided which referenced COVID-19 was produced retroactively, but said this was a “simple administrative oversight and does not, in any way, suggest intent to mislead or falsify documentation”.
“Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) are not evidence of wrongdoing. In fact, we have not been contacted by any authority with concerns about this agreement.”
It said that Portelli’s comments in 2021 referred to business partnerships, not administrative leasing arrangements.
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Almost 80 boats pushed back to Libya since 2020
Malta’s policy, led by Alex Dalli in Libya, includes ‘specialised training’ in ‘sniping’, ‘storming’, among others, an analysis by Amphora reveals
Pushbacks from Malta’s Search and Rescue (SAR) Zone have tripled since 2020, with over 5,000 people documented to have been pulled back by Libyan actors, new data shining a light on activities shrouded in secrecy for the first time, and seen by Amphora Media, reveals.
The data collected from numerous civil fleets and NGOs such as Alarm Phone and the Civil Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (CMRCC) Search and Rescue Archive, between 2020 and 2024, collated into a database focused on Malta’s SAR zone by the Malta Migration Archive, sheds light on activities for which the government’s lack of transparency has frequently been criticised.
The data also reveals that over the five years, documented distress calls from boats in Malta’s Search and Rescue Zone carrying migrants at sea have increased significantly: from 136 in 2020 to 589 in 2023 and 554 in 2024.
However, despite this boom, the data shows that rescues by the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) to the documented distress calls declined dramatically over the same period.
Additionally, the stark incline in pushbacks coincides with a change in Malta’s political arrangements in the region and the tenure of Malta’s Special Envoy to Libya, Alexander Dalli. Dalli, Malta’s former prison director, who was found to run a prison that allegedly degraded inmates and faced allegations of fear-mongering and racism, was given the role of special envoy in December 2021, soon after stepping down from his role as prison chief amid following the third reported inmate suicide that year.
Pushbacks Increase Significantly
Ananalysis of the data by Amphora Media shows that over 5,100 people in a total of 79 boats were recorded as having been intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard while in Malta’s Search and Rescue Zone between 2020 and 2024.
Returning migrants to Libya has been declared illegal by the European Court of Human Rights, due to the lack of safety, violence, danger and severe human rights violations in the country.
The archived data shows that pushbacks, which are described by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights as actions that ‘involve the summary return of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants by states without the observance of the necessary human rights safeguards’ have been on a steady increase since 2020. With:
7 pushbacks recorded in 2020
12 in 2021
19 in 2022
20 in 2023
23 in 2024
Number of logged pushbacks by year. Source: Malta Migration Archive
A count of the number of people on each boat that was intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard shows that 5,114 people have been returned to Libya in that timeframe.
While a total of 383 were recorded on the boats in 2020, 1065 were recorded in 2024. 2023 registered the highest number of people, with 1940.
In 2023, four boats were pushed back with an exceptionally high number of people on each: 500 in one, 300 each in two others, and 250 in a fourth.
Number of boats pushed back per year by case, including how many people were on each boat. Source: Malta Migration Archive.
The archive uses the term ‘so-called Libyan Coast Guard’ to question the functionality, legality and legitimacy of “the various bodies and militias in Libya involved in pushbacks, including the EU’s partner, the Libyan Coast Guard associated with the Tripoli Government of National Unity, and the Tariq Ben Zayed Brigade, a militia within Haftar’s Libyan National Army in Eastern Libya.”
In 2023, the UN Fact Finding Mission on Libya noted that ‘high-ranking staff of the Libyan Coast Guard… colluded with traffickers and smugglers, which are reportedly connected to militia groups, in the context of the interception and deprivation of liberty of migrants.’
AFM Rescues Decline
Source: DOI
As the documented pushbacks increased, data collected by the archive also shows that rescues of the boats in distress by the Armed Forces of Malta moved in the opposite direction.
The archive documents:
21 boat rescues in response to distress calls in 2020
8 in 2021
4 in 2022
5 in 2023
2 in 2024
Number of logged distress calls and rescues by the Armed Forces of Malta, by year. Source: Malta Migration Archive
Official figures published by United Nations’ Refugee Agency (UNHCR) corroborate this downward trend. The number of persons arriving to Malta by boat shrinks significantly with every passing year:
2,281 in 2020
832 in 2021
444 in 2022
380 in 2023
238 in 2024
Number of boat arrivals to Malta every year. Source: UNHCR Malta
Abandoned at Sea
Documentation of distress calls tracked by civil fleets and collated by the Malta Migration Archive depicts how, over the years, people have been left adrift in Malta’s SAR zone, ignored by authorities, abandoned by passing ships, or pushed back to Libya.
Under international law—and reinforced by EU legal principles—Malta is obliged to promptly respond to distress calls in its SAR zone.
These duties are codified in conventions such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, which require states to ensure that assistance is rendered without delay or discrimination to persons in distress at sea.”
For example, on 22nd February 2023, 34 people on a fibreglass boat without life jackets, food, or water called Alarm Phone for help. According to Alarm Phone, Malta took no action. The next day, some people reportedly died on board. Although several merchant ships and a Frontex plane were nearby, it was a boat assumed to belong to the Italian Coast Guard, not Malta’s army, that finally rescued the survivors.
This was not an isolated case. On 9th April 2023, Alarm Phone reported how Malta instructed merchant vessels to not carry out a rescue on a vessel with some 400 people in distress.
After two days drifting, they were reportedly finally rescued by the Italian Coast Guard, Frontex and merchant ships.
On 23rd May of the same year, 500 people, including five children and pregnant women, were reportedly left adrift for over a day. The NGO reported relatives of the people on board claiming that the vessel in distress had been intercepted by a Libyan militia and forcibly dragged back to the port of Benghazi in Libya. Indeed, after their vessel disappeared in Malta’s search and rescue zone the 500 people reappeared in a prison in Benghazi.
Similar patterns occurred in 2020 to 2022, when Sea-Watch and Alarm Phone documented repeated failures to respond to distress calls.
In July 2021, Malta reportedly ordered an oil tanker not to rescue people, even after spotting individuals in the water. Reportedly, three people died. In another, the Libyan Coast Guard carried out an interception in Malta’s zone while Frontex drones circled above, suggesting Frontex’s involvement.
The documentation also shows how when the AFM do intervene, it can take over 18 or even 48 hours after distress alerts.
Special Envoy to Libya
Alexander Dalli (right) with the Libya Spokesman of the Ministry of Interior for Public Affairs Major General Mahmoud Saeed . Source: Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Public Affairs, Facebook.
In 2020, Malta and Libya signed a memorandum of understanding announcing the creation of coordination centres in Valletta and Tripoli to “liaise between the two capitals and offer the necessary support relating to combating illegal immigration in Libya and the Mediterranean region.”
The document also states the intention for Malta to request financial support from the European Commission for providing border control technologies, dismantling human trafficking networks, curtailing organised crime operations, maritime assets, and more, within the search and rescue region in the Mediterranean Basin.
Then, at the end of 2021, despite numerous media and NGO reports on suicides and human rights abuses inside the Corradino prison facility, Dalli, a former Frontex-seconded national expert, resigned from his position as prison director in disgrace and, was soon given the role of Malta’s Special Envoy to Libya focusing on “combatting illegal migration”, where he is obliged to coordinate on matters listed in the 2020 agreement.
In January this year, Malta’s Ombudsman published a damning report corroborating the reports following his “own initiative” probe into the Corradino facility under Dalli’s tenure. In the investigation, interviewees spoke about how Dalli was running a so-called “factory of evil”– described as such by one witness – where numerous instances of violence, human rights abuses and inhumane treatment were found.
Besides the description mentioned in the MOU, Dalli’s role and day-to-day tasks in Libya have not been disclosed.
However, Prime Minister Robert Abela has publicly boasted to reporters about Malta’s decreasing number of boat arrivals. In February, defending Dalli following the Ombudsman’s report, Abela told reporters that Dalli is “performing miracles towards controlling irregular immigration.”
“Malta “is winning the fight against irregular migration,” he said.
Dalli’s ‘Specialised Training’ Sessions in Libya
Alexander Dalli (front right) at a meeting with Libya’s General Administration of Training at the Ministry of Interior. Source: General Administration of Training at the Ministry of Interior of the State of Libya, Facebook.
Despite an information blackout surrounding Dalli’s role, and questions to the Home Affairs Ministry about the role that have gone unanswered, an open source investigation by Amphora Media has found more information about what Malta’s Special Envoy is up to.
An analysis of social media posts by Libya’s Interiors Ministry and the ‘General Administration of Training at the Ministry of Interior of the State of Libya’ show that, in 2022 and 2023, Dalli has been involved in numerous ‘specialised training’ programmes in Libya, including a training on ‘sniping’.
In a Facebook post from August 2023, Dalli is quoted as being present at a meeting with Libyan officials “to discuss the training course programme scheduled to be held in the field of security field work (storming, landing, sniping).
In fact, specialised training programmes are mentioned in at least three separate instances in meetings between Dalli and Libyan officials. In June 2023, Dalli met officials together with Colonel Etienne Scicluna, where the two discussed “specialised courses… in the field of training for the rehabilitation and sharpening of the security and police personnel of the Ministry of Interior and benefiting from the experiences of the Maltese side in this regard.”
In another meeting with the spokesperson of the Libyan Ministry of Interior for Public Affairs, Major General Mahmoud Saeed in October 2022, Dalli discussed how to “put necessary measures to limit the flow” of illegal migration.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Robert Abela has continued to highlight the decrease in the number of migrant vessel arrivals to Malta – describing Malta’s situation as a ‘success’ thanks to ‘government policy’.
The Home Affairs Ministry did not respond to Amphora Media’s questions that arose from the findings mentioned in this article.
The whistle-blower who exposed slain Turkish-Cypriot tycoon Halil Falyalı’s alleged Malta-linked illegal betting empire has been murdered in the Netherlands.
Follow the Money said it had spoken on Monday to Önal, who said he expected an attack on his life. His lawyer told Follow the Money that they had reported the danger to Dutch authorities.
Önal had warned that his life was in danger, saying that the bribes the network paid to powerful individuals in Turkey and northern Cyprus made him a target.
Turkish prosecutors indicted Önal for allegedly establishing a criminal group for laundering money obtained from illegal betting. Önal feared he would be murdered if he returned to the country due to the information he had on powerful individuals.
Authorities in Türkiye denied these allegations. Önal was released from prison in the Netherlands while his case was pending.
Since leaving prison, he has given media interviews, where he voiced allegations against “bureaucrats and politicians from Türkiye and some of their relatives”.
Credit: OCCRP
Cemil Önal during an interview with OCCRP.
Önal spoke to OCCRP as part of an investigation which included Amphora Media and Times of Malta, which revealed a web of companies and websites within Falyalı’s network. Falyalı was murdered in February 2022. His associates allegedly ran an expansive illegal betting operation that generated at least €75 million per month, and had ties to Malta.
According to Önal’s testimony, corporate documents and online records, Ulaş Utku Bozdoğan, founder and owner of the Kebab Factory chain, and Burak Başel, co-proprietor of the Food for Fit café, were allegedly connected to the network of Falyalı.
Bozdoğan and Başel played roles in the licensing of allegedly illegal gambling websites within the network. Together, they allegedly helped sustain and expand the network, using Malta’s regulatory environment to their advantage.
A government source confirmed that the authorities are investigating Falyalı’s links to Malta. Malta’s Police Force said it was “not in a position to confirm or otherwise such information”.
Bozdoğan and Başel denied the claims.
“I have never met or had any dealings with Mr Cemil Önal and/or Halil Falyali and I can say that this information is false.” Bozdoğan said.
Credit: Courtesy of Cemil Önal.
Cemil Önal (left) with Özge Taşker Falyali (right).
Turkish prosecutors indicted Önal for allegedly establishing a criminal group for laundering money obtained from illegal betting.
In January 2023, at Turkey’s request, Interpol issued a red notice, describing Önal as “one of the masterminds” of Falyalı’s murder. Önal denied the allegations.
Just ten months after Falyalı’s murder, authorities seized around €40 million in assets, with Turkey’s Interior Minister announcing a crackdown on the network. He even referenced Malta’s role in a press conference.
“Virtual betting, virtual gambling and crypto constitute the circulation of money in the world without any obstacles… From the Balkans to Malta and Cyprus, they are the places where [these groups] base themselves.”
In December last year, Turkish prosecutors issued a sweeping indictment against 250 people, including 35 alleged leaders of Falyalı’s network, including his widow Özge Taşker Falyalı. Reporters uncovered that Özge purchased a dozen luxury properties in Dubai worth around €58 million in the year after her husband’s death.
The indictment revealed that Falyalı allegedly opened a cryptocurrency wallet in Malta. Malta adopted an act in 2018, which provided a grace period to cryptocurrency operators of 12 months to apply for an appropriate licence.
Records and Onal’s first-hand account suggested Vigen Badalyan & his SoftConstruct provided illegal gambling services in Turkiye and were linked to the illegal gambling network of Falyalı.
By Julian Delia (cap.mt), Sabrina Zammit, Daiva Repečkaitėand Julian Bonnici
Total government expenditure on private security and labour services (2013 – 2024): €293 million.
The top 5 companies earned €270 million (92.2%).
G4S: €150 million (51.2%)
Signal 8:€60 million (20.4%)
Kerber:€28 million (9.6%)
Executive:€23 million (8%)
Grange: €9 million (3%)
Research points toward questionable public procurement practices, including but not limited to:
Direct ordersabove the €10,000 limit.
Some contractors with direct access to lucrative public contracts have a documented history of questionable practices and/or brushes with the law.
A total of 71 contractual variations in favour of the bidder after the tender is awarded.
Connections between former and current politicians and government representatives, with a high volume of former AFM and police force officials.
You’ve seen them somewhere at least once.
Maybe it was a hospital, a school, or a car park. Government buildings, or entertainment venues like theatres and clubs.
For an island of Malta’s size, private security companies have a heavy presence wherever you look.
Despite its ubiquity, the private security industry rarely attracts media scrutiny, not unless a bouncer severely injures a random partygoer in Paceville.
In January, a joint investigation published by The Critical Angle Project and Amphora Media revealed that one security company alone secured almost €4 million in public procurement contracts over a period of less than a decade.
Today, we can further reveal that since the Labour Party swept to power in 2013, the government has spent a total of at least €293 million on services from companies involved in the private security industry.
In 2021 and 2023, the government spent more on acquiring services from these companies than it spent on salaries and wages at the police force and the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM).
To better understand this comparison, we consulted with a veteran of the police force regarding our findings. The source was granted anonymity to speak candidly.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the devolution of some of the police force’s duties to civilians or private security personnel, especially with low-risk assignments like a public garden. We don’t need the police force to do everything, everywhere, which is what we used to do before,” our source said.
“Problems arise if the public procurement process rewards the same companies without any real competition. This, along with the failure to enforce adequate standards among security personnel, can form part of the kind of abusive practice that harms the integrity of the public service,” the source added.
There are 27 companies with a security license and an active presence in the market – 16 of those companies were recipients of public contracts.
While some of those companies focus entirely on providing security services, others also provide additional personnel specialisations ranging from cleaning to engineering to seafaring.
The total cited in this article refers to all contracts assigned to the license-holding companies we identified. Our analysis reveals that the private security sector’s largest companies have claimed the lion’s share of public procurement.
Out of the total pot of €293 million, €270 million went to G4S Security Services, Signal 8 Security Services, Kerber Security, Executive Security, and Grange Security.
Those five companies alone claimed 92% of all the public contracts examined in this analysis.
At the number one spot, the market’s polarisation becomes even more pronounced. In total, G4S earned €150 million – more than the rest of the top five combined. At the other end of the top five, Grange Security earned €9 million.
The remaining €23 million was distributed to a total of eleven companies.
The findings of our January investigation called into question the rigour of standards set for the industry. The company’s owner and director we investigated is a convicted sex offender and is known to be close to Gozo minister Clint Camilleri.
This instance of questionable standards is not an isolated case in this industry. Our analysis points towards questionable public procurement protocols and operators as well as a high level of overlap between the private security industry and former AFM and police force officials close to the Labour Party.
While not every company can be painted with the same brush, the number of red flags we found remains significant.
Questions were sent directly to the office of the prime minister prior to publication to discuss these issues.
G4S: The lion’s share
The largest company among them is G4S, which the De Martino family owns through a holding company named KDM Investments Ltd. G4S was first registered in Malta in 1998.
According to the company’s CEO, its global operations involve over 900,000 employees under the licence of G4S International.
G4S Malta’s executive chairperson and single largest shareholder is Kenneth De Martino.
A photo of Kenneth De Martino from 2016. Photo: DataByte Facebook page
G4S’ CEO, Edward Chetcuti, responded to our questions.
Chetcuti noted that G4S Malta is one of Malta’s largest employers, emphasising that 94% of his company’s 1,650 employees in Malta are locals. He further claimed that “circa 70%” of the country’s cash circulation and ATMs are managed by G4S.
When asked to comment specifically on the large amount of direct orders and tenders assigned to G4S, Chetcuti stated that G4S “has indeed delivered a substantial amount of security services to public entities.”
“It is significant to note that as a result of our participation in the public tenders and the subsequent delivery of public services, over 90% of all our revenue is redirected directly to our workforce by way of salaries. These figures reflect our role as a major employer and contributor to the local economy,” Chetcuti claimed.
“Like any other company we have a substantial amount of overheads that are required to deliver these services which are also recovered through the revenue generated from these contracts, leaving a marginal operating profit,” he added.
Chetcuti maintains that “all public contracts awarded to G4S Malta and any subsequent negotiated procedures have been secured through the official procurement process under procurement regulations and duly approved by the contracting authorities.”
Signal 8: The former SMU officer
While G4S claims the top spot, Signal 8 Security comes in second with a public procurement market share of €60 million, 20% of the contracts under analysis.
Signal 8 is owned by former Special Mobile Unit officer Joseph ‘Jovan’ Grech. Besides owning Signal 8, Grech is also listed as a consultant for Conflict International, a London-based private investigations firm.
In addition, Grech is the sole shareholder of a Malta-registered company named Kelis Rayel Company Ltd. The company operates El Doris Boutique Living, a boutique hotel in Marsaskala that is subject to a pending planning application.
Grech did not respond to our questions directly when contacted.
A still from a social media promo from 2019 featuring Joseph ‘Jovan’ Grech. Video: Signal 8 Facebook page
However, Signal 8’s managing director Julian Dimech – along with G4S’ CEO and Kerber Security’s Stefan Axisa – did respond via a joint statement from the newly formed Malta Private Security Association (MPSA).
Set up to “promote and safeguard its members’ interests by advocating pro-industry policies and legislation,” the MPSA’s stated goals are “to prevent the exploitation of employees” and “to foster an industry that values integrity, protects workers, and contributes to a healthy and ethical labour market.”
The strip club owner
A screenshot from Kerber Security’s website featuring a stylised photo of Ronald Axisa
Kerber Security is a Maltese company owned by Ronald Axisa. Kerber claims just shy of 10% of the public procurement contracts under analysis, which amounts to €28 million since 2013.
Axisa also owns a strip club named Stiletto, located in Paceville. Stefan Axisa is his son, and was one of the individuals responding to our questions on behalf of the MPSA.
Despite the MPSA’s claim that its members wish to “contribute to a healthy and ethical labour market,” the track record of Kerber’s employees raises questions.
In October of last year,two unlicensed bouncersemployed by Kerber – Ivan Marjanovic and Milos Stojkovic – were released on bail after pleading not guilty to grievously injuring a group of youths in Paceville.
Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech had ordered JobsPlus to investigate Kerber and the establishments where they were working to determine whether they were employed legally.
Questions sent to Jobsplus about the outcome of that investigation were redirected through the public service’s customer support page and remained unanswered at publication time.
In January 2024, another Kerber employee, Ryan Zammit, was among a group of bouncers who wereaccused of causing grievous harm to a Sudanese student in Paceville. Zammit was further accused of operating without a license.
In 2020, three months into the COVID-19 pandemic, a news report published by Lovin Malta linked Kerber Security to the government’s inhumane offshore detention centres.
The government had confirmed that the whole operation cost taxpayers around €1.7 million but did not confirm Kerber’s involvement until an FOI request was filed.
“A direct order was commissioned to Kerber Security to provide security services on the four vessels chartered to accommodate illegal immigrants between April and June 2020 during the time when Maltese ports were closed off due to COVID-19,” the home affairs ministry’s response stated.
“The security company was chosen because at the time of the operation it was offering services at the Marsa Initial Reception Centre, and could therefore provide a service in the shortest possible time,” it added.
In April, the constitutional court awarded €20,000 in non-pecuniary damages to nine asylum seekers who were detained in these offshore centres, declaring that the conditions the government detained them in were inhumane.
A comparison of the company’s annual accounts with the revenue they generated from public procurement shows a high degree of dependence on government contracts; particularly from 2020 – 2023.
Questions were sent to Kerber Security for clarification about their involvement in the Captain Morgan saga and the volume of public contracts they received. No responses were received from Kerber or the Office of the Prime Minister by publication time.
Executive Security: The ex-AFM official
With a total of 8% of the contracts tracked for this analysis, Executive Security was the only firm that threatened immediate legal action as a result of our queries.
“Your allegations are incorrect and are clearly intended to provide a prejudiced narrative. Under these circumstances, we warn you that if you persist in publishing untruthful facts about us, we will proceed against you for the damages you would cause us,” Executive’s owner, Stephen Ciangura, wrote in a brief response.
A photo of Stephen Ciangura posing with one of his racing horses. Photo: Facebook
Further questions were sent to substantiate this website’s findings. Ciangura was invited to explain where he believes our reporting is incorrect.
His partner, Georgiana Lupu, is listed as the sole shareholder for Gold Guard Security. Lupu claimed that this website’s reporting was inaccurate.
Our analysis shows that Gold Guard was awarded a total of €7 million in public contracts since it was set up in 2015. Executive Security was set up in 2008.
In 2016, news reports confirmed that Ciangura – who served as a lance bombardier in the Armed Forces of Malta – was not formally given permission to obtain a security license by the AFM.
Ciangura’s profile in the press was elevated when he became Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s personal security guard – with the Labour Party publicly claiming they were paying for the extra security afforded to the former Nationalist MP turned Rwandan ambassador.
The other 11%
Given that it is virtually impossible to include further detail about every company we investigated without making this investigation too unwieldy to read, we summarised the rest of our more pertinent findings.
You may also find all of the data we referred to at the bottom of this article:
Questionable public procurement practices: as can be ascertained by our data further below, we tracked dozens of direct orders which went above the €10,000 limit and noted several variations across multiple tenders.
Grange Security: obtaining 3% of the total pot of public funding under analysis, Grange Security’s annual accounts also indicate a high degree of dependence on government funding.
OZO Group: earning a total of €8.3 million from contracts awarded to its subsidiaries, the Zammit Tabona-owned labour services company provided detailed answers to our queries about its operations.
Protection Services: owned by former AFM lance corporal Jason Pisani, this firm made a relatively small amount of money from public procurement when compared with its larger competitors: we tracked around €2 million in total.
When asked for a general comment about public contracts related to his company, Pisani deflected and told this website he could instead “give a detailed description and info about companies that earned hundreds of millions in that period.”
Pressed to comment further about his own slice of the pie, he refused to provide a comment for this joint investigation, accusing us of “attempting to involve (him) in a political inquiry.”
The United Kingdom is no longer the primary destination for Maltese residents seeking abortions abroad. Official data analysed by Amphora Media, as part of the European cross-border investigation Exporting Abortion, coordinated by Público (Spain), reveals that Spain has now surpassed the UK in the number of women from Malta travelling there for the procedure.
Public records and freedom of information requests show that Spain has seen a rise in numbers from Malta over the past few years, despite the UK historically being the ‘classic’ choice.
According to experts, the Netherlands is also a common destination among Maltese women, though Dutch authorities do not document specific figures for Malta, among other countries.
Why Are More Women Choosing Spain?
The number of Maltese residents travelling to the UK for abortions began to decline in 2020, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the shift in abortion travel patterns appears to have been influenced by multiple factors.
According to abortion researcher and Abortion Support Network volunteer Liza Caruana Finkel, this trend may also have been influenced by Brexit, which could be complicating visa requirements for non-EU nationals residing in Malta.
One other significant factor is the increased awareness and use of abortion pills for early pregnancy terminations (up to 12 weeks). However, for women seeking abortions after this period, travelling abroad is the only option.
Malta has the strictest abortion laws in the EU – allowing a legal abortion only in cases where a woman has a medical complication which may put her life at immediate risk or that places her health in grave jeopardy which may lead to death.
While between 2010 and 2019, an average of 55 Maltese residents per year travelled to the UK for abortion services, this number dropped dramatically to 20 in 2020, just 4 in 2021, and 13 in 2022. The figures for 2023 have yet to be published.
Meanwhile, Spain has steadily increased, rising from 7 in 2019, to 14 in 2022 and 27 in 2023.
The Exporting Abortion investigation found that Spain is one of the European countries that receives the most women seeking abortions.
An analysis of different European laws and country-specific situations by the investigative team highlights that Spain is likely a popular country of choice due to several factors: it is in the European Union, it is one of the countries with easier access to abortion (upon request till 14 weeks, however relatively easy to access abortion until 22 weeks in some regions) and the procedures are cheaper than in countries like the Netherlands and the UK(which have longer timeframes than Spain for abortions on request).
Additionally, a change in legislation in Spain in 2023 now permits 16- and 17-year-olds to access abortion without parental consent, and Spain and Malta are well-connected by air travel.
5 Women Have Had Abortions in Malta Under New Law
A total of five women have had legal abortions in Malta following Malta’s 2023 legal amendment. A freedom of information request has revealed that four of these abortions took place in 2024 and one in 2023. There have been no procedures so far in 2025.
According to the law, a medical team consisting of two gynaecologists or obstetricians, one of whom would be the professional to carry out the termination, and a third specialist in the field related to the health issue affecting the woman must give the go-ahead prior to the procedure being carried out.
However, the Health Ministry’s Department for Policy in Health could not provide the number of times when a decision by the doctors’ committee did not result in the termination of a pregnancy, saying that they “have no visibility of additional ‘unsuccessful’ discussions.”
The 2023 legal amendment came about in reaction to the case of US national Andrea Prudente, who was denied an abortion in Malta in June 2022, despite experiencing severe pregnancy complications and the risk of infection after her fetus was deemed non-viable. A non-viable fetus is one that cannot survive outside the womb.
Prudente had to be medically evacuated to Spain to terminate the pregnancy. The case threw Malta’s extremely restrictive abortion laws in the spotlight and sparked international criticism.
The bill slightly shifted criminal law surrounding abortion from a total blanket ban to allowing for the procedure in cases where women’s lives are in imminent danger.
Activists had argued that the revised bill does not sufficiently safeguard women’s health, as it excludes situations where her health is severely compromised. Malta’s abortion laws remain the most restrictive in the EU, making no exceptions to survivors of rape or incest.
More than 5,000 European women have to travel abroad every year to get an abortion
The international investigation Exporting Abortion quantifies for the first time how, even today, thousands of women across Europe cross the borders of their home countries to access an abortion, due to the obstacles that still exist in many states when it comes to termination of pregnancy – even in cases where abortion in their home countries is legal.
The reasons behind this phenomenon vary. Sometimes women realise they are pregnant after the legal deadline for abortion has passed in their country. In other cases, the fetus presents a malformation that local doctors do not consider serious enough to justify terminating the pregnancy.
Exporting Abortion exposes the journeys European women take to access abortion services in other countries. The highest flow is from Germany to the Netherlands, followed by Portugal to Spain. The third most common route is from France to the Netherlands.
Additionally, it shows how women don’t just travel abroad to access abortions. There’s also a growing trend of women ordering and taking abortion pills on their own in countries where abortion rights are highly restricted. This occurs outside the formal healthcare system, leaving women without medical supervision. This trend is particularly evident in countries like Malta and Poland.
This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.
Exporting Abortion is a cross-border journalistic investigation coordinated by Público (Spain) in collaboration with European media and journalists from across Europe.
The journalists who have participated in this investigation are, in alphabetical order: Joana Ascensão (Portugal – Expresso), Kristina Bohmer (Slovakia), Magdalena Chrzczonowicz (Poland – OKO.press), Mayya Chernobylskaya (Germany), Nacho Calle (Spain – Público), Maria Delaney (Ireland – The Journal Investigates), Joanna Demarco (Malta), Armelle Desmaison (France), Emilia G. Morales (Spain – Público), Bru Noya (Andorra), Apolena Rychlíková (Czech Republic), Órla Ryan (Ireland – The Journal Investigates), Sergio Sangiao (Spain – Público), Margot Smolenaars (Netherlands – Follow The Money).
Four Police Reports, Two Arraignments Linked to Abortion Pills Since 2018
Traveling for Abortion Up to 25 Times More Expensive Than Pills
“I remember sitting on the edge of the bathtub, Googling ‘abortion in Malta,’ then panicking, thinking they were going to trace my search back to my IP address… Imma paranojja ridikula. Well, it’s not ridiculous because it’s not unrealistic…”
*Stephanie was 25 and had just begun a new scholastic year working as a secondary school teacher when she unexpectedly became pregnant, despite using contraception.
Her abortion was one of over 2,000 cases in Malta in the past five years for which women have used pills shipped from international organisations that provide them, according to data kept by the two main abortion pill suppliers and shared with Amphora Media through local NGO Doctors for Choice. The data was shared as part of the European cross-border investigation Exporting Abortion, coordinated by Público (Spain).
The numbers signal that Malta’s near-total abortion ban has not stopped women from seeking abortions. Rather, access to abortion pills is increasingly leading to more self-managed terminations.
Yet, the framework of illegality and stigma fosters a climate of fear, risk, and isolation as these procedures continue to take place outside the healthcare system.
In an interview with Amphora Media, held in a private location, Stephanie described the experience of having an abortion within this climate as triggering “all the worst emotions” — fear, anger, shame and mistrust; including towards her siblings, her gynae and even her GP.
“You feel angry at the state, frustrated, you are nauseous and worried about the actual abortion and worried about being caught. So there are a lot of layers to the upset, because it is distressing… And that is what made the whole thing difficult. Not the procedure,” Stephanie said.
Dr Natalie Psaila Stabile, a specialist in family medicine and co-founder of Doctors for Choice Malta, speaks to women daily who want to have, or have had, abortions, through the NGO’s Abortion Doula Support Service that she helps run. The service offers women free, confidential abortion information and support.
Without hearing the interviewee’s story, she echoed Stephanie’s fears as ones expressed by the women she talks to.
“People get very concerned about the pills being stuck at customs or being found out… Some fear being reported by family members, partners, or even their ex-partners. Some are in abusive relationships where their partner wants them to keep the pregnancy, and they don’t — as this ties them down even more”.
The safety of pills purchased online, potential complications, and how to recognise excessive bleeding or failed procedures are other concerns the women who speak to Dr Psaila Stabile raise.
A portrait of Professor Isabel Stabile (left) and Dr Natalie Psaila Stabile (right) – mother and daughter and the co-founders of Doctors for Choice Malta.
Psaila Stabile’s mother, Professor Isabel Stabile, a gynaecologist and the co-founder of Doctors for Choice Malta, told Amphora Media that from a medical point of view, the pills are safe, save for a “rare” occurrence of very heavy bleeding, which would require hospital care.
The latter is the scenario which women taking the pills fear – having to need to go to hospital and risk the chance of being found out.
Four Police Reports Linked to Abortion Pills Since 2018 – Two Arraigned
While the fear of being reported to the police is a main concern for women using abortion pills, since 2018, only four reports have been filed with the police in relation to the pills –two in 2023 and two in 2024.
Through a freedom of information request, Amphora Media found that two reports led to arraignments in court, one did not lead to any charges, and one is currently being investigated.
Additionally, a recent report by Voice For Choice revealed that between a longer timeframe – 2012 and November 2024 – three of seven reports on abortions that were sent to the police, were made by healthcare professionals, while the remaining four reports were filed by partners, former partners or family members.
Under Maltese law, it is legal to purchase the pills, possess them, and even consume them. It is only illegal to consume them while pregnant.
Malta has the strictest abortion laws in the EU – allowing a legal abortion only in cases where a woman has a medical complication which may put her life at immediate risk, or that places her health in grave jeopardy which may lead to death.
Under the Criminal Code, a woman who causes her own miscarriage or consents to an abortion can face 18 months to three years in prison. No one has been imprisoned for having an abortion in the last 25 years.
Abortion Pill Shipments Double in Four Years
The data provided to Amphora Media by Doctors for Choice lists shipments from the two main organisations that provide abortion pills: Women on Web and Women Help Women. The figures specifically account for pills ordered for immediate use, excluding precautionary or “advanced provision” orders.
Professor Stabile stated that the pills shipped “are taken”, thus making them a reliable indicator of how many abortions are occurring in Malta each year.
The numbers have surged, more than doubling since 2020. In 2024 alone, 590 shipments were made, almost double the 289 in 2020. Analysis shows that from 2020 to the end of 2024, there were over 2,000 instances women in Malta taking abortion pills.
However, due to the legal risks, these abortions happened without medical supervision and often without the support of a loved one.
“They are literally on their own, alone in the bathroom, bleeding with no one around them. That’s not the way to do it,” Stabile said.
The increase in the use of abortion pills has also been noticed through first-hand experience by Dr Psaila Stabile through the Doula Support Service.
The phone used for the Doula Support Service.
A sample of logbook entries from 2024 shared with Amphora Media shows that a majority of calls are made during early pregnancy and are mostly inquiries about the abortion pill.
Stabile also highlighted specific cases she is aware of in which travel was not possible and access to pills has been crucial. In one instance, a migrant woman living in Malta’s detention centres ordered abortion pills after allegedly being raped at a detention centre in Libya. In Malta, abortion remains illegal in cases of rape and incest.
It is important to note that these 2000+ cases also do not include the number of pills that could have been purchased on the black market or from other providers. They also don’t include other potential instances of self-managed abortions.
Traveling for Abortion Up to 25 Times More Expensive Than Pills
Despite users knowing that it is illegal, women are still choosing to have abortion pills in Malta for practical and financial reasons, Professor Stabile explained.
“Women in Malta are generally not travelling in early pregnancy. They’re not. They don’t because it’s just so much easier to get the pills here,” she said.
Traditionally, Maltese women seeking abortions during early pregnancy would travel to countries such as the UK. However, the growing awareness of overseas medical abortion providers has offered a cheaper and more accessible alternative.
While the numbers for travelling in early pregnancy have dwindled and changed, women still travel for procedures following the 12-week time limit catered for by the pills.
The abortion pills – mifepristone and misoprostol – which are considered as safe options by the World Health Organisation cost 25 times less than traveling abroad for a procedure. While a medical abortion costs between €80 and €120, traveling for an abortion can cost between €2,000 and €3,000 (not including time taken off work, childcare costs, etc.)
Echoing Professor Stabile, Stephanie told Amphora Media that she decided to choose the pills over travelling, despite the illegality, for practical and financial reasons. “It’s less hassle, as you don’t have to look into flights and accommodation and coordinate your schedule with someone else to join you for support,” she said.
“It’s cheaper, because you don’t need flights and accommodation, and it’s less disruptive on life and responsibilities, at that time I also couldn’t afford to take a week off.”
“It’s a struggle not being able to trust anyone when you need help… (and) although that is what you decide — no one wants to go through having an abortion.. and it was made more difficult than it had to be simply because of the laws that affect it. It didn’t have to be like that,” she said.
Amphora Media reached out to Health Minister Jo-Etienne Abela for comment, however received no reply.
*the interviewee’s name was changed to protect her identity.
This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.
Exporting Abortion is a cross-border journalistic investigation coordinated by Público (Spain) in collaboration with European media and journalists from across Europe.
The journalists who have participated in this investigation are, in alphabetical order: Joana Ascensão (Portugal – Expresso), Kristina Bohmer (Slovakia), Magdalena Chrzczonowicz (Poland – OKO.press), Mayya Chernobylskaya (Germany), Nacho Calle (Spain – Público), Maria Delaney (Ireland – The Journal Investigates), Joanna Demarco (Malta), Armelle Desmaison (France), Emilia G. Morales (Spain – Público), Bru Noya (Andorra), Apolena Rychlíková (Czech Republic), Órla Ryan (Ireland – The Journal Investigates), Sergio Sangiao (Spain – Público), Margot Smolenaars (Netherlands – Follow The Money).
By Joanna Demarco, Julian Bonniciand Daiva Repečkaitė.
This story has been fact-checked by an independent fact-checker.
Investigators believe Spanish contractors involved in the Kappara Junction and Malta Public Transport channelled millions to the nephew of a former Spanish MP. The former MP is facing a corruption trial.
The nephew’s companies then allegedly transferred funds to blacklisted former Joseph Muscat government advisor Shiv Nair.
Former Transport Malta CEO James Piscopo received suspicious cheques from accountant Robert Borg the same year both contracts were awarded.
Transaction records seen by Amphora Media show:
Shiv Nair and his companies received €2.3 million net from an affiliated company allegedly part of the scheme.
James Piscopo received €30,000 in suspicious cheques issued by Robert Borg. He also received a net €10,000 from Borg through a separate account.
Spanish contractors of Kappara Junction sent €263,000 to a company owned by the nephew of the former Spanish MP.
Keith Schembri once used Yorgen Fenech to try to leak documents linking Piscopo to alleged payments.
Multi-million payments issued to Shiv Nair, the blacklisted former advisor of Joseph Muscat’s government, are suspected of forming part of a kickback scheme on the Kappara Junction and Malta Public Transport contracts.
Transaction records uncovered in an investigation by Amphora Media, MaltaToday, and Times of Malta reveal that Nair and his affiliated companies received a net amount of €2.3 million from Aitken Spencer Ltd – a company owned by his director’s brother that investigators believe is tied to the scheme.
Meanwhile, investigators have also flagged a series of suspicious cheques issued to former Transport Malta CEO James Piscopo.
Piscopo received €30,000 across nine cheques in 2015, the year the contracts for the Kappara Junction Project and the management of Malta Public Transport were awarded.
The signing of the Kappara Junction Project with James Piscopo, Ministers Joe Mizzi & Edward Scicluna — Source: DOI
Piscopo received the cheques from Robert Borg, an accountant and former secretary of Transport Malta who has served on numerous entities’ boards and councils.
Borg has been charged in connection to the Vitals Global Healthcare case and has previously faced controversy for his lucrative earnings from the General Workers Union’s publicly-funded community work scheme.
In seven of the nine cheques cashed by Piscopo, Borg was both the payer and payee – effectively writing them out to himself. They were then endorsed to Piscopo, who deposited them into his account. Investigators suspect this method was intended to obscure the transactions.
Amphora Media has been informed of further payments between Borg and Piscopo’s Undecim Five Investments, a company he later renamed and which was eventually dissolved. Borg transferred €20,000 to Piscopo’s Undecim Five – while Undecim Five transferred €10,000 to Borg.
Piscopo confirmed that he received the payments from Borg, with whom he said he has a longstanding friendship. However, he insisted that the payments were linked to a consultancy firm he operated with Borg while serving as Transport Malta & Lands Authority CEO. He said taking those payments was “stupid” but not illegal and ultimately rejected any links to the alleged kickback scheme.
He could not explain why the cheques were issued before the company’s creation – nor why Borg initially wrote the cheques out to himself. Borg refused to answer questions sent surrounding his transactions with Piscopo.
Piscopo said that the Kappara Junction Project was fully audited and stressed he had little to no knowledge of who Shiv Nair is.
Amphora Media found no financial records linking Nair and Piscopo. Borg disputed transaction records between himself and a Maltese company owned by Nair. He insisted that he had never met or had dealings with Nair.
Nair refused to answer any questions about the claims.
“I am a private businessman and not a public servant. Moreover, and perhaps more to the point, my companies have always conducted their activities in Malta and elsewhere in a regular and lawful manner and do not need to provide explanations with respect to their legitimate dealings,” he said.
James Piscopo and Robert Borg
The Spanish Connection
In 2015, Spanish-led contractors won two large infrastructure tenders. A consortium led by Constructora San Jose SA won a tender to build the Kappara junction, while Autobuses de Leon was chosen as the new private operator for the public transport system. On the surface, the tenders appear unrelated.
Sources have revealed that Spanish authorities have reportedly identified a total of €5.14 million in transfers from the accounts of Constructora San Jose SA (the Spanish partner in the Kappara Junction joint venture) and a company called Malta Public Transport (the brand name of operator Autobuses de Leon, a sister company of ALSA) to two companies in Spain: Hasaura Real Estate SL and Translock IT SL.
The director of these two companies is Luis Carlos Yanguas Gómez de la Serna, the nephew of Spanish former MP Pedro Ramon Gomez de la Serna.
Pedro Ramón Gómez de la Serna and another former MP, Gustavo de Arístegui, have been charged in Spain with heading a criminal organisation to obtain foreign contracts in a case that lists Constructora San Jose as a client company.
Malta Public Transport Buses
ALSA is listed as a client of Voltar Lassen, a firm owned by Pedro de la Serna and Gustavo de Arístegui. Malta Public Transport’s owner, Autobuses de Leon, is a sister company of ALSA group. ALSA emphasised that it was separate from Autobuses de Leon when responding to questions.
In the Spanish police probe, Luis Carlos Yanguas Gómez de la Serna was found to appear to have acted as a “commission agent” for the company at the centre of the investigation. Luis Carlos Yanguas Gómez de la Serna stopped working with Voltar Lassen in January 2014. He was not charged in connection to the case.
Amphora Media has seen records of six transactions worth approx. €263,000 between Constructora San Jose and Hasaura Real Estate.
Pedro Ramon Gomez de la Serna and his lawyer rejected any suggestions that he had any knowledge or connection with the alleged scheme – and stressed that Luis Carlos Yanguas Gómez de la Serna stopped working with Voltar Lassen before the transactions linked to Kappara Junction and Malta Public Transport – and had since set up an independent consultancy firm.
Kappara Junction Source: DOI
Transport Malta said that both the Kappara project and Malta Public Transport contract were audited by the European Commission and National Audit Office, respectively – it said none of the payments were mentioned and that it would not be privy to any of the payments mentioned in our questions.
Malta Public Transport categorically denied the claims. It said that Hasaura Real Estate SL & Translock IT SL provided “specific services required by MPT and provided to MPT by its suppliers” – and said these were in no way related to the awarding of the public transport concession. However, it did not respond to questions to clarify the services provided.
Autobuses de Leon said that MPT signed an agreement with Hasaura Real Estate in 2015 to optimise the management of its fleet and later transferred it to Translock IT. It said it used this management software from March 2015 to June 2020.
It rejected all wrongdoing and denied any knowledge of Nair.
The ex-MP’s nephew Luis Carlos Yanguas said the payments involving his companies Hasaura Real Estate SL and Translock IT had nothing to do with his uncle.
Yanguas said the payments were part of a “client-supplier relationship”, and were backed up by all the necessary documentation and agreements.
Constructora San Jose’ insisted that it acts under the strictest legality. Constructora San Jose’ did not respond to questions as to why it was also issuing payments to Hasaura Real Estate.
Shiv Nair – Source: Suez Holdings
Payments allegedly flow from Spanish companies to Shiv Nair
After arriving in the accounts of Yanguas de la Serna’s companies, a portion of the funds originating from Malta Public Transport was allegedly transferred to Shiv Nair through a Hong Kong-based company, Aitken Spencer Ltd.
Transaction records seen by Amphora Media show that between 2014 and 2020, Nair and his affiliated companies, Suez Group Finance and Suez Group Capital, received a net amount of €2.3 million from Aitken Spencer Limited.
Aitken Spencer Ltd’s director and shareholder is Subodha Manahara Withanage. It was incorporated in Hong Kong on 27th January 2015, the same year the contracts were awarded.
Withanage’s brother appears to be Rasika Withanage, a director at Nair’s Suez Capital, who has also held significant roles and worked in other companies linked to Nair. Amphora Media has seen transactions to Rasika Withanage, which are believed to be his salary.
The Withanage mother’s residence is listed as the headquarters of Suez Holdings in Sri Lanka.
Nair has been permanently blacklisted by the World Bank for fraud and corruption since 1999 – as exposed by Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2013. Still, he served as an advisor on energy and foreign direct investment within the government of Joseph Muscat.
At the time Nair denied the accusations, but the World Bank has confirmed to Amphora Media that the blacklisting still applies.
Caruana Galizia had also reported on Nair’s connections to former MP Pedro Ramón Gómez de la Serna. Gomez de la Serna confirmed that he met Shiv Nair, but he described it as a coincidence.
Source: DOI
Kappara Junction and Malta Public Transport Contract Raised Red Flags
Autobuses de Leon won a tender to take over the ownership and management of Malta Public Transport on 8th January 2015. Piscopo, who was Transport Malta’s CEO at the time, chaired the tender evaluation committee and oversaw the selection.
Eyebrows were first raised in 2014 when a visit by then-Transport Minister Joe Mizzi and Piscopo to Spain as part of the selection process for the new public transport operator was shrouded in secrecy.
The National Audit Office later flagged the lack of documentation on negotiations between Transport Malta and the winning bidder as a concern.
The contract is valid until 2030.
A week after the Autobuses de Leon takeover, the five potential bidders for the Kappara Junction were announced, with SJ Kappara JV, which involved Maltese partners, winning the bid in December of that year. The project cost was budgeted to cost €22.5 million and was inaugurated in January 2018. The final cost was estimated at around €35 million.
The project benefited from EU funding intended for less developed regions. Transport Malta even involved European Investment Bank experts to provide an “independent positive recommendation of the [Kappara Junction] project’s feasibility”.
Malta Public Transport Buses
Keith Schembri claimed James Piscopo received kickbacks from major projects
Allegations of Piscopo receiving kickbacks on infrastructural projects are not new. In December 2020, the Times of Malta revealed that the Malta police had launched an investigation into Piscopo.
According to reports in the Times of Malta, in 2019, former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri attempted to use Yorgen Fenech to leak a story to the media, alleging that Piscopo had received a considerable amount of money. Schembri is believed to have provided Fenech with documentation showing Piscopo’s dealings, including his offshore account at Nedbank Private Wealth (formerly Fairbairn Private Bank) in Jersey. Schembri alleged that the funds held at the bank could be upwards of €600,000.
Intelligence obtained by investigators suggests that Piscopo does hold a bank account at Nedbank Private Wealth (formerly Fairbairn Private Bank) in Jersey.
Piscopo served as the Labour Party’s CEO in the run-up to its 2013 electoral victory and was a key member of Joseph Muscat’s inner circle. He was appointed executive chairman of Transport Malta and then later the Lands Authority CEO following Labour’s rise to power but no longer holds that role.
Apart from his job there as CEO, Piscopo also chaired the state’s utility billing company, ARMS Ltd, and sat on the boards of Enemalta and Projects Malta.
Piscopo resigned soon after the claims were made public.
Malta’s police declined to comment on the status of the investigation or whether an investigation was ever opened into the alleged kickback scheme involving the Kappara Junction and Malta Public Transport contracts.
There are few certainties in a football game: a ball, twenty-two players, a referee, and an endless supply of betting and gambling sponsors. An investigation by Investigate Europe and other partners reveals the significant influence of the betting industry over the “beautiful game”.
An analysis in a cross-border collaboration, including Amphora Media, has uncovered how the majority of Europe’s leading football teams & leagues, including Malta’s, now partner with betting & gambling companies.
Reporters’ data analysis revealed that two-thirds of teams (296 of 442) in the 31 premier competitions across the EU and the UK signed at least one betting partner for the 2024/25 season. One in three has a front-of-shirt sponsor. In addition, almost half of all leagues rely on a gambling or lottery title sponsor.
This includes Malta, with reporters uncovering how close to a tenth of Malta’s top-flight teams have a gambling sponsor. Amphora Media has also previously reported how Vbet, the partner of the Malta Premier League and Malta National Team, has been implicated in an alleged illegal betting network.
The investigation also found that 105 companies – operating 140 brands – have deals with football clubs, and many are based in Malta. Football sponsors include industry heavyweights Kindred, Kaizen and Entain, and well-known brands such as Unibet, Betano, Betway and Bwin. Others are offshore operators in Curaçao and Isle of Man, or across Asia.
However, the investigation reveals that a number of teams are able to circumvent betting advertising restrictions with ‘gateway’ sponsors – and campaigners say agreements risk pushing more vulnerable individuals into addiction. Clubs have found ways to skirt restrictions by using brands’ entertainment of charitable logos on their kits.
From the Premier League to Serie A and La Liga: Betting sponsors are impossible to miss
In Italy, the 2018 “Dignity Decree” prohibited any form of direct or indirect advertising related to gambling. Still, advertising on shirts continued this season, driven by Inter (Betsson.sport), Parma (AdmiralBet.news) and Lecce (BetItalyPay).
At least two clubs, including AC Milan, have struck deals with companies which lack domestic licences but still target local audiences. In July 2024, the club struck a deal with Boomerang Bet despite the brand operating without a license, a legal requirement for the Italian betting market, reporters found. Neither responded to requests for comment.
Italy’s sports minister acknowledged in March 2023 that the ban was being bypassed. In response to a parliamentary inquiry, Andrea Abodi said it was “hypocritical to ban the right to bet” while still allowing “parallel communication by the same sites, which simply promote a web address that inevitably leads to gambling.”
The global appeal of the British Premier League has made its clubs prime targets. Eleven teams have a gambling logo on their 2024/25 shirts, the highest proportion among Europe’s top five leagues, including the Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A. With a voluntary ban on front-of-shirt sponsors coming from the 2026/27 season, clubs must diversify. Some logos are moving to shorts, sleeves, and training kits.
Betting brands spent around $135 million on shirt deals in the English top flight this season, according to Global Data. Among them are several opaque Asia-facing operators, the latest in a string of little-known betting sponsors. They are attractive options for smaller teams, offering up to £10 million a year, and clubs are desperate to maximise revenues, says Kieran Maguire, football finance expert and lecturer at the University of Liverpool.
“I don’t think there’s any desire by clubs to do due diligence, provided they get paid. And they’re prepared to not look too closely because they’re under pressure,” Maguire said. “You’ve got the owner screaming at the chief executive who’s screaming at the commercial director: ‘Get the best deal that you can. We’re losing money’. And all the clubs are losing money.”
‘Betting companies exploited my passion for football’: The real impact betting sponsors can have on addiction
“Betting companies exploited my passion for football to hook me in and completely change my life,” Thomas Melchior, a former German bank employee who started gambling after watching a betting advertisement during a Champions League match, told our partners, Investigate Europe.
After 13 years of betting, Melchior had accumulated €800,000 of debt and in 2019 was sentenced to prison after being found guilty of various fraud and other offences, which he said were a means to sustain his gambling addiction.
At first, when he was winning, his account was flagged for potential gambling addiction, and his betting limits were restricted. But when he started losing five-figure sums every month, no one banned him. Instead, he was assigned a personal VIP consultant and received monthly rewards.
“I ‘won’ a trip to London for the Premier League match between Chelsea and Liverpool, complete with flights and VIP tickets. It was a ‘prize’ for my customer loyalty. Or rather, for my gambling addiction, for which I was regularly rewarded,” said Melchior, who was released from prison in 2022 and has since supported Unsere Kurve, a German fan group working to end gambling advertising in football.
According to The Big Step campaign, which also aims to end gambling advertising and sponsorships in football, marketing through football works to normalise betting and “keep the conveyor belt of customers going”.
It is estimated that around a fifth of the UK population is directly or indirectly harmed by gambling, but the main lobby group for the UK betting industry claims that there is no evidence supporting a link between sports advertising and problem gambling.
Charles Livingstone, a member of the World Health Organisation’s Expert Group on Gambling and Gambling Disorder, says research clearly shows that the more exposure you have to gambling ads, the more likely you are to gamble.
