Appeals Court reverses Valletta council decision to cancel controversial church tender

The court has reversed a Public Contracts Review Board (PCRB) decision to annul a tender for the renovation of Valletta’s St Paul church.

The tender was at the centre of allegations of perjury made by Archpriest David Cilia. Last February, Cilia alleged that some Valletta local council members committed perjury when they lied under oath to the PCRB about the tender in question. 

In its now-anulled decision, the PCRB decided against Agius Stoneworks Ltd after the company appealed the local council’s cancellation of the tender for the renovations which it had won. 

The priest claimed that the local council’s executive secretary, Gabriella Agius, administered the tender despite the fact that her family are the owners of Agius Stoneworks Ltd. At the time, PL councillor and former Valletta mayor Alfred Zammit had called for an investigation into the claims of conflict of interest.

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As the company took its fight to court, the Court of Appeals heard that the local council unjustly cancelled the tender and that this was done without explanation.

On Tuesday, the Court of Appeals reversed the PCRB’s and the Valletta Local Council’s decisions to cancel the tender, meaning that Agius Stoneworks Ltd is once again the tender winner.

The court also awarded that the funds used by the company to appeal the tender cancellation in front of the PCRB be refunded. The Valletta Local Council was also ordered to pay the company’s legal fees.

In a Facebook post following the court's decision, Alfred Zammit said that the local council should've listened to his concerns earlier, as he appealed for the restoration works to start immediately.