How Malta’s largest cab company built an empire on unchecked illegalities

Updated on 8 July with link to WT GLobal's right of reply

On a quiet hill in Binġemma lies a site that is listed as a 310-space parking facility for a cab company that would eventually dominate the sector. 

But the site in question is a small field that seems part of the landscaped area of a villa and which is inaccessible by car. 

This field is one of four addresses which for years, WT Global, Malta’s largest cab company, fraudulently declared as a garaging facility for its vehicles. 

These addresses were the reason for Transport Malta’s decision earlier this year to revoke the company’s operating licence, a case that is currently playing out in court. 

But years before the transport authority took action, WT Global continued to build built its massive 347-cab fleet, generating tens of thousands of euros in income, without having to invest in the required garaging facilities. In the years that the company operated without these facilities, it enjoyed a market advantage over rival operators that adhered to the rules. 

With WT Global having appealed the licence revocation, MaltaToday took a deep dive into the documents submitted in court and the witness testimonies in this ongoing case. They show how the biggest player in the cab industry grew rapidly through unchecked illegalities. 

The site (marked in red box) was listed as one of WT Global’s garaging facilities

Fraudulent garaging addresses 

According to a reply to a parliamentary question in June 2024, WT Global had five addresses listed as garaging facilities on its LPTS licence. The LPTS licence contains an operator’s garaging facilities and the number plates of all vehicles used by the operator. 

When Transport Malta (TM) sent WT Global a letter of intention to revoke its operating licence, the authority highlighted that each address listed was not being used for the intended purpose—the garaging of Y-plate vehicles. 

The first address simply reads: “Land at Binġemma, Limits of Rabat.” According to an architect’s report commissioned by TM, the address WT Global marked as a garaging facility pointed to a field that is only accessible through a footpath. An employee with the company would later testify that the site can hold 310 vehicles. 

In a reply to TM's notice, the company’s legal representatives explained that the site was removed from the LPTS licence before the notice was sent. According to the legal team, this was done after TM informed WT Global that the site could not be approved as a parking area in September 2024. 

The second and third address referred to two properties in Żebbuġ’s Sqaq il-Qenċ. Architect reports seen by MaltaToday indicate that the sites are a commercial store and distribution centre for a company selling home appliances. The architect noted that no cabs were seen in the vicinity during two site inspections. 

A stone’s throw away along the same road, WT Global had marked another property as a garage facility. The site was a garage beneath what appears to be a residential bungalow. Once again, no cabs were seen by the architect when conducting a site visit. 

The company’s legal team explained that while the three Żebbuġ sites could be used for storage purposes, they are “available” for parking cabs. 

A site inspection in the fifth garaging facility in Gżira showed that there were indeed five cabs in the garage. Although this address was included in TM’s notice that it intended revoking the licence, it was left out in the authority’s final decision to revoke the company’s licence. 

Through its legal team, the company denies making false declarations, and maintains that it has operated in accordance with the law. 

With four “garaging facilities” not fit for their intended purposes, industry sources have asked how was it possible for them to be listed on WT Global’s operating licence in the first place. 

The company’s director and owner, Walid Ouhida shed some light on this in a sworn statement submitted in court during the appeal proceedings. 

“Transport Malta never conducted pre-approval inspections prior to adding them (garaging facilities) to the operating licence. The authority merely checked that all required documentation was in place, including the architect’s declaration, site plan, and either a permit or a submitted permit application with the Planning Authority,” the company’s director said. 

Company kept growing despite flagged address 

WT Global’s LPTS licence was officially revoked by TM on 21 January 2025 after the company was given a notice of intention to revoke on 13 January. 

But a 2023 letter from TM shows that the authority had known about the dubious addresses much earlier than the revocation. The letter, which was submitted in court, shows that the company’s Binġemma address was flagged since it did not have the necessary permit from the Planning Authority to be used as a parking area. 

At the time, WT Global was given a five-day period to provide an alternative site which is covered by the necessary permits, and that failure to do so would result in the suspension of the company’s operating licence. The letter was sent a few days before TM’s new regulations for fleet owners with more than five vehicles were introduced. The regulations stipulated that Y-plate operators had to have Public Service Garages (PSGs). 

It is not clear whether an alternative address was provided to TM following the September 2023 warning, however, a WT Global employee who works in administration testified that the site was removed from the company’s LPTS licence in January 2025. 

The employee further explained that the Binġemma site was removed from the LPTS “because Transport Malta had told us (WT Global) that the land is not according to law and we need to provide an alternative.” 

Amazingly, the site was removed from the LPTS just three days before TM sent the company its letter of intention to revoke the licence, and 13 months after WT Global was told that the site was not fit for its stated purpose. 

The same employee testified that the company was obliged to show TM an architect’s declaration for each garaging facility yearly. 

WT Global submitted documentation in court to sustain its claim that it suffered a loss on €43,000 every day when its licence was suspended

Tens of thousands in daily sales 

Documents submitted by WT Global to show the losses they suffered between 21 January and 3 February this year as a result of the licence suspension (before the court lifted the suspension pending the outcome of the case) offer a closer look at how lucrative its cab operations have become. 

The documents indicate that the company suffered an operating loss of €43,000 every day. 

But the documents also give a wider picture, encompassing the revenues received from ride-hailing platforms Bolt and Uber between October 2024 and January 2025. 

WT Global’s sales, show that in October, the company’s fleet made just over €1.3 million in sales—an average of around €42,000 every day in that month just from rides made through Bolt’s platform. 

The company made an additional €88,000 in sales in October 2024 from rides ordered through Uber. 

The following month, WT Global made €1.1 million in sales through both platforms, and another €1.45 million in December 2024. 

Unpaid VAT, fines and 500% revenue growth 

WT Global’s irregularities aren’t restricted to its garaging facilities. In February this year, MaltaToday reported that the company owed a significant amount of money in unpaid VAT, with sources saying that the figure stood at over €1 million. 

This followed an investigation that evaluated the size of WT Global’s fleet, as well as information obtained by the taxman from ride-hailing platforms, which provide a clear picture of the operator's earnings. 

The company also owed TM some €400,000 in unpaid fines. When asked about the company’s fines during a cross-examination by TM's legal representative, a company employee confirmed that WT Global had received 350 fines for on-street parking, with all of these dating back to 2021. 

She told the court that until March of this year, the company was still receiving fines due to what she described as a backlog at TM. 

Throughout the years, while fines and unpaid VAT piled up, WT Global’s accounts show a company whose revenue exploded.  

A 2024 deep dive into the company’s accounts by MaltaToday revealed that between 2019 and 2020, the company grew its revenue by 493.9%. The company’s revenue jumped by 98% between 2021 and 2022. 

The accounts also showed that WT Global’s revenue grew from just under €15,000 in 2018 before entering the ride-hailing business to €8.9 million in 2022. Meanwhile, the company’s founder and director, Walid Ouhida saw a big increase in his current account. While his current account contained €196,788 in 2021, the number shot up to €2.7 million the following year. 

The current account is “unsecured, interest free and has no fixed repayment date”, indicating what is ultimately a very generous, interest-free loan to Walid. This loan is separate to the dividend paid out to the immediate parent company, JWJ Investments, of which Walid is the sole shareholder. In 2022, WT Global issued a dividend of €600,000. 

No replies from WT Global 

MaltaToday reached out to the company for a comment on this story but received no replies by the time of publication.

Right of reply

Meanwhile, two days after this article was published, WT Global sent in a right of reply that is being published in its entirety here.