By Daiva Repečkaitė, Sabrina Zammit, Evy Coeckelbergs and Julian Bonnici

Over €1.15 billion has been distributed in direct orders under the Abela, Muscat and Gonzi administrations. Under Joseph Muscat, a single ministerial portfolio – Family – awarded €410.5 million in direct orders without a competitive tender. For Robert Abela’s government, the Environment & Energy Ministry has taken over, with €110 million.

A new Amphora Media analysis of all the direct orders & tenders published between 2010 and 2025 reveals that the Family, Health, Environment, Education, and Home Affairs ministries are the most lucrative portfolios for contractors to accumulate millions without a competitive process. 

Top spenders of direct orders according to ministerial portfolios under the last three administrations:

*Gonzi-era figures are based on disclosed amounts for 2011–2013 only; 2010 records largely lacked stated amounts

N.B: In Malta, ministerial portfolios, government agencies and other independent entities change over time– they can be merged and split between government terms as well as during reshuffles.

To address challenges with direct comparison across different administrations, Amphora Media looked at the first keyword in each ministry’s name (like “Transport” or “Justice”) to categorise the “portfolio item”.  We then tracked how much these entities spent on direct orders over time. 

The analysis does not cover portfolios that were merged with larger ministries (for example, when tourism was merged with foreign affairs in 2024).

Which contractors accumulated the largest sums under the different portfolios?

The Family Ministry, under different administrations and iterations, is where some of the eyewatering large direct orders are issued. 

The largest beneficiary during the period was the JCL and MHC Consortium, which received €273.6 million for Management Services of the New Hospital/ Residence. This was the largest single direct order issued over the fifteen-year period.

Another 11 beneficiaries of direct orders in this portfolio made over a million in direct orders over the period:

Care Malta Ltd (almost €61.8 million), Primecare Ltd (€10.1 million), Support Services Ltd (€8.5 million), Caring First Ltd ( €5.8 million), Age Concern Company Ltd ( €5.6 million), Healthmark Care Services Ltd ( €5.1 million), Malta Health Care Caterers (almost €4.8 million), X-Clean Ltd (over €3.6 million), Archdiocese of Malta Homes for the Elderly (€over €2.5 million), Villa San Francesco (nearly €2 million), and Falbra Ltd (€1 million).

The Environment Ministry is also among the highest spenders on direct orders. 

The United Equipment Co (UNEC) Ltd, part of Bonnici Group, was the top beneficiary, receiving over €32.2 million in direct orders for power generation, infrastructural works, industrial supplies, equipment procurement and more. 

More recently, the Shift News revealed that the government issued a €120 million direct order to a consortium led by the Bonnici Brothers.

Bonnici Bros Services was separately awarded early €3.5 million across direct orders for works on a shooting range under the Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation Ministry. 

It was flagged by the National Audit Office for flawed management and weak internal controls,  including deficiencies in documentation and procurement record-keeping.. 

The official explanation was that the shooting range works were fast-tracked to ensure completion in time to host an international sporting event. In response to the unfavourable NAO conclusions, the government insisted it was still “proud” of whoever worked on the project.

Within the Environment Ministry, Ozo Malta received the second most, with €9.6 million in a single direct order for the “supply of administrative/operational services” to Wasteserv.

The Health Ministry is another major distributor of direct orders. Drugsales Ltd was the top beneficiary, with over €23.5 million in direct orders for various medical supplies and equipment.

Technoline, which has been accused of money laundering in connection with the Vitals hospital concession corruption case, is among the top 10 recipients of direct orders from the Health Ministry. Over the period, it received almost €4.7 million in direct orders for various hospital supplies.

The company was acquired by Ivan Vassallo with a loan from Vitals Global Healthcare. Prosecutors allege that Technoline Ltd was fraudulently acquired by Gateway Solutions Ltd using funds linked to the Vitals hospitals concession, allegedly structured through a loan arrangement. 

Investigators alleged that the company was “destined to be owned by former chief of staff Keith Schembri and ex-minister Konrad Mizzi, among others”, according to court reporting. 

In 2024, the court upheld an asset freeze against the company. Technoline received direct orders worth over € 226,000 from the Health Ministry post the asset freeze.

Technoline was also among the top contractors for the Agriculture Ministry, receiving over € 215,000 for animal health supplies. These were issued before the charges. 

In response to the findings, a lawyer representing Technoline wrote asking “to ensure that you differentiate between a direct order sic et simpliciter and a purchase order because of and as a result of, contractual obligations.” Procurement from Technoline was classified as direct orders in the government gazette

“My client is fully operational according to law and is administered by a Court-appointed administrator,” the lawyer representing Technoline explained, adding that the company’s representatives are not “ allowed to reply to any question put to them, which question might somehow directly or indirectly refer to, or be linked with, or referenced to the pending proceedings in Court.”

Beyond Technoline, Smart Care Pinto received more than €22 million in a single direct order for long-term care beds. Infrastructure Malta, a government agency, received direct orders worth over €7.7 million.

In Home Affairs, the largest beneficiary was GO, the telecommunications company.  Gold Guard Security is also among the top providers, with one direct order worth €1.3 million. Amphora Media has previously reported on the concentration of security contracts among several providers, Gold Guard Security being one of them.

The Ministry of Gozo, which added planning to its portfolio in 2024, also issued direct orders in the millions. 

Cassar Fuel was the top beneficiary, with €6.7 million, including a single direct order worth €2.5 million, an extension of a previous marine gas oil supply contract won by tender.

Manoel Island Yacht Yard, which is not part of MIDI’s Manoel Island concession, received €2.26 million for vessel servicing, among other purposes.

In the Transport portfolio, the largest beneficiary was Link-2018 JV (reportedly a consortium between V&C Contractors, Schembri Barbros and Schembri Holdings), which received almost €2.7 million direct order, in addition to the €28 million tender it was awarded.  

Direct orders were also awarded to Enemalta – €3.9 million in total.

The ministries did not comment.

Consultancies & IT Providers

When ranking suppliers by the amount received under each portfolio, the analysis showed that consultants, including IT providers, lawyers and others, were often the largest beneficiaries of direct orders.

Notably, Mifsud Bonnici Advocates made nearly €346,000 in direct orders for legal services between 2016 and 2022. Amphora Media has reported on how Aron Mifsud Bonnici’s tax evasion and money laundering charges were extinguished after he reached an out-of-court settlement under a new legal mechanism, while he continues to face separate charges in connection with the Vitals case

Asked about this, Aron Mifsud Bonnici replied, “My firm was not the authorities’ preferred choice. The longstanding and dominant pattern of direct procurement of legal services by Maltese public entities has always centred on larger, traditional commercial law firms, which have received direct instructions from government consistently across successive administrations — before, during, and after the period your questions reference. My firm’s engagements during that period represented a temporary broadening of the pool of firms instructed, not a displacement of the established pattern.”

“It is the norm, not the exception, for legal work involving specialist expertise or urgency,” he wrote, adding about the Vitals case that “A conflict of interest requires competing interests that compromise the integrity or independence of a decision or of a professional’s conduct. No such competing interests are identified. The question simply juxtaposes two separate and unrelated matters — the Vitals case and direct orders for legal services — and invites the reader to infer a connection. None exists, and none has been established in any forum.”

A breakdown of ministry spend in these areas is below:

• Finance Ministry: FTI Consulting, a US-headquartered company, emerged as the top supplier for the Ministry of Finance, with €3.4 million in direct orders. A direct order of over €2 million was also issued to Oliver Wyman, an American consultancy. Aside from foreign consultancies, the ministry and entities under it spent €1.2 million on Tal-Lira.
  
• Justice Ministry: Directed multi-million sums to Calamatta Cuschieri & Co, a financial advisory (including €3.2 million in a single direct order) and a number of security companies: Signal 8 Security, Kerber Security and G4S Community Services were among the top 20 beneficiaries.
  
• Culture Ministry: with €1.8 million in a single direct order, the top beneficiary was software supplier European Dynamics Consortium, a multinational company.
  
• Economy Ministry:
  • Gauff Consultants received €1.4 million in direct orders;
  • Wyzer Ltd – a software consultancy co-founded by the government’s AI taskforce member Abdalla Kablan, was contracted to provide services to Malta Business Registry for over €1.2 million.
    
• The Office of the Prime Minister: Exigy Ltd was the largest beneficiary, with nearly €1.2 million. Moreover, PTL Ltd received a single direct order worth €557,272.
  
• Agriculture Ministry: Loqus Services was the top beneficiary, receiving €773,135. Separately, Loqus Business Intelligence, not registered as a company on MBR but appearing as the group’s brand, received €137,875. The group provides IT services;
  
• Energy Ministry: This portfolio’s top contractor was Darttek, with €378,704.

• Tourism Ministry: Although most top-20 contractors are corporate, there is one individual name, Marika Micallef. She received a total of €105,000 in direct orders;
  
• Social inclusion/ equality Ministry: In 2021, KPMG received a €138,000 direct order in this policy area; Labour politician and activist Desiree Attard was contracted for over €49,000 via direct order to serve as legal advisor to the Human Rights and Integration Directorate..
  

The Public Works Ministry: Awarded JF Group, which provides staffing with over €128,000 in direct orders received over 2024.

In tendering by portfolio, over three-quarters of tenders are concentrated in the hands of the Department of Contracts, making comparison with the distribution of direct orders difficult. Infrastructure Malta is the runner-up with under 9% of tender volume.

Over the period spanning 2011-2025, construction work benefited from more spending than any other tendering area, with €1.6 billion. It was followed by medical equipment, pharmaceuticals and personal care products (over €724 million) and health and social work services (over €676 million).

The Government and the National Audit Office did not reply to the questions sent.

On 17th July 2019, Parliament approved a waiver to lift long-standing restrictions on government land owned by Fortina. Documents obtained by Amphora Media show that on 6th August, Fortina Developments sold a part of that same site to Hillside (New Media Malta Property) Limited, a company ultimately owned by Bet365 Group Limited, for €40 million.

Bet365 declined to comment. Fortina’s lawyers told Amphora Media that “the transaction in question was conducted between commercial entities through properly executed public deeds, which are matters of public record and accessible for your review. These deeds contain the complete factual record of the transaction.”

Parliament approved the waiver on development restrictions for €8.1 million. A report by the National Audit Office found an independent valuation of €18 to €23 million was suppressed by government officials. 

One of these restrictions was a ban on any above-ground construction or development in the area.

Fortina secured the €40 million promise of sale with Hillside against an €8 million deposit on 14th February 2018, a year and a half before the land restrictions were lifted by Parliament.

This was two months before the Planning Authority received Fortina’s application permit over a change of use to office space.  It was approved in October 2018.

The deal included several airspace parcels of land within the entire site:

• A 1,645 square metre site,
• A 940 square metre site,
• A 978 square metre site,
• A building permit awarded to Fortina Developments Ltd, the company led by CEO Edward Zammit Tabona (PA 03913/18),
• The use and modification of the existing car park.

According to the deed, Hillside (New Media Malta Property) Limited has “free and unencumbered” ownership of the site, including against “any rights in favour of the Government or any other public authority”.

The €40 million sale does not include the Hotel development or other sites on the land that are still owned through Fortina-linked companies.

Hillside’s accounts in 2019 also list a separate €33.9 million expense for the construction and development of the building, of which almost €1.7 million had already been paid by that time.

The deed of sale references the “Arapa Deed”, which was a tripartite legal agreement between the Planning Authority, the Malta Tourism Authority, and Fortel Services Limited.

This earlier deed imposed an obligation on Fortel to restrict the use of the hotel development to tourist accommodation only, strictly prohibiting its use for permanent residential occupation. 

The deed of sale included specific clauses, such as the creation of the FSL Easement, designed to protect Hillside’s acquired property in the event of a breach of the Arapa Deed that could impact the entire project.

The Journey from a €250,000 deed to a €40 million sale

The site is part of the land Fortina acquired through multiple government deeds, which had restrictions lifted as part of the €8.1 million deal.

Fortina acquired the site for just under €250,000 in a 1996 government deed. The deed gave Fortina “free and unencumbered” use of the land, against several strict conditions:

• Construction was restricted to remain below specified reference points, but certain exceptions were allowed, including a swimming pool (up to 730 m²), boundary walls, toilets, garden landscaping, emergency exits, an Enemalta sub-station, and the reconstruction of the bocci pitch with ancillary facilities.
• It would be used exclusively for the hotel’s extension.

Corporate records and public registry documents show that, over 20 years later, on 14th February 2018, Hillside (New Media Malta Property) Limited & Fortina Developments Limited entered into a promise of sale agreement to acquire the airspace, car park spaces, and shaft for €40 million, paying an €8 million deposit.

More than 18 months later, on 17th July 2019, Parliament waived all restrictions on that site and several others for just €8.1 million. On 6th August, Fortina sold that portion for €40 million.

Fortina’s Cut-Price Waiver To Lift Restrictions And The NAO

Fortina acquired all the sites in government deeds between 1991 and 2000 for a total value of around €1.4 million. The land was handed to Fortina for the sole purpose of extending its hotel on the site into apartments, offices, and commercial spaces. 

The government approved the €8.1 million waiver. But an independent valuation, suppressed by the Lands Authority, placed the land’s value between €18.3 million and €23.9 million, depending on the payment terms.

That’s a discrepancy of nearly €13 million to Fortina’s benefit.

As part of the deal, Fortina paid €1 million upfront and would pay an additional €7.1 million over the next 10 years. By the end of 2024, Fortina had so far spent some €2.9 million, leaving a balance of around €5.1 million, which is to be settled entirely by July 2029.

The Lands Authority has been instructed by the Parliamentary Audit Committee to conduct a new valuation of the Fortina waiver, following a report by the National Audit Office that revealed significant discrepancies in the original assessment. 

The report also found that Lino Farrugia Sacco, the then-Lands Authority Chairman, had withheld a valuation placing the land’s worth at €18 million

Farrugia Sacco, who died in 2021, warned the valuation “would create problems for him.”

Former Lands CEO Received Payments From Fortina’s Boss the Year Sliema Land Was Undervalued By €13M

A previous collaborative investigation by Amphora Media and the Times of Malta revealed an intelligence report that detailed how former Lands Authority CEO James Piscopo received payments from a company owned by Fortina’s CEO, Edward Zammit Tabona, in the same year Parliament approved the deal.

Piscopo declared his conflict of interest with Fortina’s owners in September 2018, after journalists raised questions months into his appointment.

The intelligence report indicated that he received in excess of €50,000 from Zammit Tabona-linked firms in 2019. A few months after being forced to resign all public roles, Piscopo was also awarded an €11,800-a-month consultancy with Ozo Group, part-owned by Zammit Tabona.

Piscopo and Zammit Tabona confirmed the payments. However, both said the payments were private and legitimate and had no connection to the waiver.

The NAO report has determined that Fortina was the recipient of a significant information leak on the deal.

The Auditor General noted that, by 4th February 2019, Fortina was already in possession of the €8.1 million valuation by the Architects’ Lands Authority – before the Board of Governors meeting – since its counterproposal explicitly referenced the figure.

Fortina later confirmed that this valuation triggered its own €2.7 million counter-valuation.

Fortina told Amphora Media that “Edward Zammit Tabona has always conducted himself in a correct manner as CEO of the Group” and that while it was not in a position to comment, it stressed that Piscopo abstained in discussions or decisions on the waiver.

In a statement following the PAC order, Fortina reportedly issued a statement insisting that the “maximum fair value would at best range between €3.5 to €7.4 million”.

“We paid significantly more than the current fair value standards. Not only did we not benefit from an advantageous valuation, but we were significantly disadvantaged,” it said.

An intelligence report details how former Lands Authority CEO James Piscopo received payments from a company owned by Fortina’s CEO in the very year Parliament approved a cut-price deal for the group to redevelop its Sliema hotel site into lucrative apartments and offices.

Piscopo and Zammit Tabona confirmed the payments. However, both said the payments were private and legitimate and had no connection to the waiver.

In 2019, Parliament approved Fortina Group’s request to convert its Sliema site for €8.1 million. It was first purchased from the government in three deals from 1991 to 2000 for a total value of around €1.4 million. 

The land was sold for the sole purpose of extending its hotel on the site, into apartments, offices, and commercial spaces. The request was first submitted in April 2017 by Charles Mangion, a Notary Public, who was a government MP at the time and now chairperson of the Malta Tourism Authority, who acted as Fortina’s notary.

Mangion told Amphora Media that “ at no point did such engagements give rise to any conflict of interest” and that “the Auditor General never deemed it necessary to summon [him] or to request any clarification regarding the professional submission”.

The government settled for €8.1 million, taking into account only one out of the four sites. But an independent valuation, which the Lands Authority suppressed, placed the land’s worth between €18.3 million and €23.9 million, depending on the payment terms.

The National Audit Office estimates the site at €21 million, compared to the Lands Authority’s €8.1 million, a discrepancy of nearly €13 million to Fortina’s benefit.

As part of the deal, Fortina paid €1 million upfront and would pay an additional €7.1 million within ten years. By the end of 2024, Fortina had paid approximately €2.9 million, leaving a balance of around €5.1 million, which is to be settled in full by July 2029.

An investigation by Amphora Media and Times of Malta has uncovered a series of transactions between James Piscopo and companies co-owned by Edward Zammit Tabona from 2017 to 2022, including details of the company they owned together while the former was heading Transport Malta and later the Lands Authority.

Piscopo confirmed the payments in reply to questions sent by Amphora Media. However, he stressed that they concerned his “private affairs, private individuals, private companies, and events that are entirely unrelated to the Fortina waiver process”.

Piscopo stated that the payments were related to a €46,541 investment in 2017 and a subsequent divestment in 2019, which he made with Edward Zammit Tabona, co-owner of BBF Ltd. He added that he had declared the conflict of interest in September 2018. Piscopo said this came at “the earliest opportunity”. However, the NAO report confirms this came after media questions were sent regarding his involvement.

“My role in the group is exclusively that of CEO of Fortina Investments Limited. I maintain separate business interests independent of the Fortina Group,” Zammit Tabona said via his spokesperson. 

“Piscopo was briefly a partner/shareholder in BBF following its formation in 2017. In 2018 he sold his share within the company and was subsequently paid for it”, which were “duly returned to him by 2019”.

“All payments from BBF to any Piscopo-related entity were legitimate and properly due as evidenced above.”

Piscopo was the CEO of the Lands Authority in 2019 when the Fortina waiver went through. Between 2016 and 2018, while serving as Transport Malta CEO, he was a shareholder in a private company, BBF Ltd. The shareholders of BBF were companies whose UBOs were Piscopo, Zammit Tabona and others.

The intelligence report indicates that he received in excess of €50,000 from Zammit Tabona-linked firms in 2019. A few months after being forced to resign all public roles, Piscopo was also awarded an €11,800-a-month consultancy with Ozo Group, part-owned by Zammit Tabona.

Piscopo confirmed his employment with Ozo Group, which he said continues to this very day “on business development and strategic guidance, while providing support to various connected companies, specific project management initiatives, and internationalisation”.

“James Piscopo has been a senior member of the Ozo Group team since 2021, and to this very day, he provides the group with a professional contribution backed by his academic background and demonstrated senior management experience,” OZO Group’s spokesperson wrote in response to reporters’ questions about the transactions, rejecting any claims of wrongdoing.

Piscopo’s Conflict of Interest

Piscopo only declared his conflict of interest with Fortina’s owners in September 2018, after journalists raised questions months into his appointment. He insisted that he did not engage “in any conduct that could have influenced the course of decisions or actions” but could “not exclude the possibility of having been asked to provide [Fortina] updates”.

Piscopo divested his shares in BBF Ltd., the company he co-owned with Zammit Tabona, when he took over as Lands Authority CEO in July 2018. The documents were submitted to MBR in October 2018, the month following the discovery of the conflict of interest. 

In submissions to the NAO, a Fortina representative admitted approaching Piscopo “for assistance on Fortina’s request for the rescission of conditions burdening its site”.

“One of the representatives of Fortina conceded that he had known the CEO Lands Authority for several years and that the latter was a close friend of his. He admitted that he had had a business connection with the CEO Lands Authority, but emphasised that this had ended long before and that, at this juncture, this posed no conflict of interest.”, the report reads.

Fortina said Piscopo refused to intervene, instead directing them to Lino Farrugia Sacco, the Chairman of the Lands Authority. Farrugia Sacco, who died in 2021, was later found by the NAO to have withheld a report showing higher valuations, warning it “would create problems for him.”

Despite this, Piscopo was provided with the minutes of the Board of Governors meetings discussing the deal. The NAO also noted that in September 2018, Piscopo disclosed to the media that negotiations with Fortina were ongoing, even though he was supposedly not party to the process.

Email showing Piscopo receive minutes on valuation in April 2019

Keith Schembri, the former chief of staff for the Office of the Prime Minister, also told the National Auditor that he held weekly meetings with then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Lands Minister, the PA CEO and Piscopo, in his capacity as Lands Authority CEO, to discuss major development and investment projects, including that of Fortina.

The NAO highlighted inconsistencies in Schembri’s timeline and later contradictions in his testimony. In later submissions, Schembri, considered by the NAO as part of a wider effort to conceal the valuation by the audit firm, said that Piscopo’s friendship with Fortina “rendered resort to the OPM redundant”, raising NAO concerns.

The NAO report has determined that Fortina were the recipient of a significant information leak.

The Auditor General noted that, by 4th February 2019, Fortina was already in possession of the €8.1 million valuation by the Architects’ Lands Authority, before the Board of Governors meeting, since its counterproposal explicitly referenced the figure.

Fortina later confirmed that this valuation triggered its own €2.7 million counter-valuation.

Fortina told Amphora Media that “Edward Zammit Tabona has always conducted himself in a correct manner as CEO of the Group” and that while it was not in a position to comment, it stressed that Piscopo abstained in discussions or decisions on the waiver.

It went to raise doubts about the conclusions of the NAO report, insisting that it “ identified inconsistencies and serious flaws” in the methodology.

The €46,000+ Payment And The €11,800 A Month Contract: Piscopo’s Links to Zammit Tabona

At the heart of the payments between Piscopo and Zammit Tabona was Roswell Management Limited, formerly known as Undecim Five Investments Limited, Piscopo’s private company. 

An intelligence report shows that between 2017 and 2022, Piscopo’s companies had transactions with three entities linked to Fortina’s owners:

• BBF Limited – a company Piscopo co-owned and founded with Fortina’s Edward Zammit Tabona, Sharlon Pace, and others. He divested in July 2018.
• Shed Investments Limited – a company founded and, at the time, co-owned by Zammit Tabona.
• Ozo Group – a company where Zammit Tabona is a 12.5% shareholder.

Zammit Tabona is the CEO of Fortina Investments Ltd – the holding company behind the Fortina Hotel and the surrounding development, which includes the Bet365 office block, and is involved in OzoGroup, Captain Morgan ferries, and other ventures.

An intelligence report shows that in 2017, Piscopo’s company issued several cheques totalling €64,541 in favour of BBF Limited. Piscopo says this figure was €46,541.

In 2019, the year Fortina was awarded the €8.1 million deal, Piscopo’s company received €46,541 from BBF Limited and a further €8,642 from Shed Investments Limited.

By 2021, Piscopo began to receive structured payments from Ozo Group, another company part-owned by Zammit Tabona, for “strategic, general and project management advisory services”.

OZOMALTA Limited, a company wholly owned by Ozo Group, paid Piscopo’s Roswell €11,800 each month from April 2021 to March 2022.

“My independent [of Fortina Group] business interests include minority shareholdings and directorship in BBF, and minority shareholding in OZO Group,” Zammit Tabona wrote in response to Amphora’s questions. “All payments from BBF to any Piscopo-related entity were legitimate and properly due as evidenced above. Regarding OZO Group, Mr Piscopo provided and still provides professional services to the company.”

The contract began a few months after Piscopo resigned from his public roles following revelations that he was under investigation by the police concerning his alleged ties to corruption.

“When the process for the waiver of the two restrictions was initiated, Mr Piscopo did not form part of the Lands Authority. When he subsequently became CEO, he had no part in the decision over the rescission of the conditions. Any suggestion that my relationship with Mr Piscopo was leveraged for Fortina’s benefit is, to say the least, unfair,” Zammit Tabona said.

The payments were made via standing order, two by cheque. Piscopo reportedly provided authorities with a contract detailing the provision of strategic, general, and project management advisory services. An invoice was also provided explaining that the €10,000 related to the services and €1,800 was the 18% VAT Tax Rate.

The Times of Malta had previously revealed how former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat allegedly received payments from Fortina soon after stepping down as Prime Minister in 2020.

“Your assertion seems to indicate to your readers that I receive ‘payments’ for nothing.  I can confirm that wherever I receive payments, it is as remuneration for professional work that I would have carried out,” Muscat said at the time.

Over five years, Roswell’s accounts were mainly credited by: BBF, Ozo Group, Shed Limited and Reanda, a company part-owned by Robert Borg, an accountant and former secretary of Transport Malta who has served on numerous entities’ boards and councils. (read more about business dealings involving Piscopo and Borg).

Investigators reported that there was no activity in Roswell’s bank accounts in 2018 and 2020. This raised suspicions among investigators that “Roswell Management may have been set up for dubious purposes”.

The Lands Authority and the Malta Police Force did not respond to questions.

The Fast Ferry and Marina di Valletta: The Zammit Tabonas Major Contracts Under Piscopo

Zammit Tabona family has been the recipient of other government tenders while Piscopo was at the helm at first at Transport Malta and then at the Lands Authority.

• In 2021, the Zammit Tabonas and their partners, including Malta Public Transport, launched a fast ferry service between Malta and Gozo. This was after at least three requests for proposals by the government issued under Piscopo’s tenure were shot down. The Shift News reported claims from competitors Virtu Ferries Limited that they were “written to fit a particular company”. Virtu and Gozo Fast Ferry have since merged to form Gozo High Speed. “Virtu’s position on the matter is clearly outlined in the appeal which was filed by Virtu before the Public Contracts Appeals Board (and the subsequent related proceedings),” the company’s representative wrote in response to Amphora’s questions.

• Zammit Tabona and his mother, Veronica, are shareholders in the consortium that won the bid to operate Marina di Valletta in 2015. The shares were transferred to Zammit Tabona in 2023.

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 (CEO and chairman) of Transport Malta from 2013 to June 2018 and then later the CEO of the Lands Authority from July 2018 to December 2020, when it was revealed that he was subject to a Police investigation.

James Piscopo received suspicious cheques while contracts from Malta Public Transport and Kappara Junction were awarded 

Amphora Media revealed earlier this year that Piscopo received €30,000 in suspicious cheques from Robert Borg, the same year the contracts for both the management of Malta Public Transport and the development of Kappara Junction were awarded.

Borg has been charged in connection with the Vitals Global Healthcare case and has previously faced controversy due to 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.

Borg also transferred €20,000 to Piscopo’s Roswell/Undecim Five company, while Undecim Five transferred €10,000 to Borg.

At the time of the earlier publication, 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 CEO of Transport Malta and the Lands Authority. Borg denied any wrongdoing.