Top Story • December 14 2003

Carelessness gave Alfred Sant bus ticket scandal

Kurt Sansone
The bus ticketing inquiry in 1995 had exonerated then minister Michael Frendo from any wrong-doing but it concluded that the documents in Dr Alfred Sant’s possession, which allegedly proved there was corruption in the award of the tender, were authentic.
How the documents ended up in Alfred Sant’s lap has always been a mystery since they included sensitive information exchanged between Ray Borg of Maltech Services Ltd and the British-based Wayfarer, which were going to bid for the electronic bus-ticketing machines tender. Dr Sant had alleged that the tender document was tailor-made to accommodate the British company and that a ‘contact’ was to receive a ‘commission’ of Lm250,000 for the operation.
MaltaToday can reveal that it was a foolish act of absent-mindedness by Ray Borg that regaled the then-leader of the opposition with the crucial documents.
Mr Borg had forgotten a file full of documents and letters in a public place and another individual, who also had an interest in the bus-ticketing tendering process found the file and took it to Dr Sant.

The delivery of the documents in late 1995 and early 1996 was a God-send for the Opposition leader with an election just around the corner.
The file contained among other things a draft of the tender document that was not yet public, which Borg sent to a certain Nick Andrews from Wayfarer. Borg asked Andrews to study the draft tender and advise him (Borg) "what details" he "would like to see included."
Eventually Andrews answered back and suggested some changes to the tender document before this went public on 18 July 1995. A number of changes requested by Andrews were eventually made to the tender document, a move that would have certainly advantaged the British company in its bid.
When the scandal broke out the Prime minister was pressured into ordering an inquiry led by Judge Caruana Colombo. The tendering process was shelved and Minister Frendo suffered the political consequences of the campaign orchestrated by the Labour Party. He struggled at the polls and eventually even lost his parliamentary seat.
It took eight years after that failed attempt to introduce the bus ticketing machines for somebody to venture into the field once again. As of this year the Transport Authority has installed bus-ticketing machines in all buses but the equipment has proved to be of an inferior quality.
But despite the repeated complaints by commuters that the new system is not as efficient as it had been trumpeted to be the Opposition is silent. There has been little criticism and the reason for this might very well be grounded in the mysterious way Alfred Sant obtained the damning documents in 1995.
kurt@newsworksltd.com