Turkish company Taca disappears from Malta with countless creditors

Drilling company Terracore is the latest Maltese company to bring court proceedings calling for the winding up of the Turkish construction firm Taca, whose workers were imported to the Fortina construction site and a host of major roadworks.

Taca entered the eye of the storm in June 2020 when a group of 80 Turkish builders supplied to the Fortina construction project in Sliema went on strike over unpaid salaries.

But it was not just these workers who failed to receive payment from the Turkish company. Terracore’s court application shows that 16 other companies have sued the company to recoup thousands owed by TACA.

Among them is construction giant Polidano Bros which entered into a supply agreement for materials and other services in relation to the Tigné seafront project in January 2019. The company said it had not been paid its total €520,000 in services rendered.

The DB Group and James Caterers were also seeking redress in court through their consortium Malta Healthcare Caterers, which was tasked with a mega-extension of the St Vincent de Paul hospital.

In Terracore’s case, the company entered into a sub-contracting agreement for the Fortina Hotel project, for water removal, digging, and grouting services. €141,897 due to them by Taca remains pending.

Terracore’s lawyers complained that Taca has no property in Malta and seems to have “completely abandoned its presence in this jurisdiction, leaving behind a number of creditors, including the applicant, without any hope of repayment.”

Terracore requested the appointment of an administrator to handle the company’s affairs and pay back its creditors.

The Turkish company’s financial woes in Malta data back to 11 May 2020, when the first precautionary warrant was issued by Siderpre Processing Ltd. A number of other warrants followed, and nothing was deposited by way of security.

A month later, Taca workers went on strike after the company failed to pay its employees.

Taca Construction was set up as an overseas company with the help of Ganado Advocates in September 2018. With its home base in Turkey’s capital Ankara, the firm is in fact massive, having entered into contracts with multiple local developers.

Taca was first rumoured to be set to provide 2,500 Turkish construction workers on various projects, but the firm’s efforts were directed at providing 500 workers for the Fortina’s redevelopment, and the DB City Centre project in Pembroke.

When the Taca workers went on strike in Sliema, the Fortina Group insisted that all financial obligations to Taca had been honoured, at times even paying suppliers directly on their behalf to keep things moving on site.