Alex Borg breaches ethics, refuses to apologise about false claims on Fort Chambray concession

Nationalist MP Alex Borg breached ethics when he made false claims about the Fort Chambray concession while refusing to issue an apology regarding his statement.

The complaint against Borg was filed by former PL candidate Jesmond Bonello, who alleged that Borg made declarations about the Fort Chambray concession that were not true. 

Specifically, the complaint highlighted a Facebook post in which Borg claimed he voted in favor of the concession partly because the government's contractual obligation to restore the fortifications had been transferred to the new concessionaire. 

Bonello argued that the approved concession contract showed the opposite. Borg repeated a similar claim during a MaltaToday interview shortly after the vote on the concession where he stated that government was supposed to fix the walls but failed, and now the concessionaire was stepping in to do the repairs.

The Fort Chambray concession, originally granted in 2005 for development and later amended, underwent a variation contract approved unanimously by parliament. 

The new contract sparked public controversy, partly due to the extension of the development area leading to the demolition of historic barracks and concerns that the concessionaire had not fulfilled original obligations, yet received more favourable terms.

In his report, the commissioner concluded that Borg did not state the government had a duty to restore the fort’s barracks.

The standards czar explains that making inaccurate statements does not automatically amount to an ethical violation, but Borg did breach ethics, as his remarks were intended to support his vote in favor of the revised concession.

The report also acknowledged that Borg later clarified his position in another interview with the Times of Malta, where he admitted that, eventually, the government would cover the restoration costs through tax exemptions granted to the new concessionaires.

The Commissioner wrote to Borg, informing him of these considerations and proposing to conclude the case through a written apology, but Borg never apologised.