Borg Olivier’s order to Sliema mayor: GRTU ‘deny’ a conversation they weren’t privy to

The Malta Chamber of SMEs (GRTU) has issued a statement “denying” statements given by Sliema mayor Nikki Dimech to an inquiry by the Internal Audit Investigations Unit.

Dimech told the IAID, which was running an inquiry into alleged financial mismanagement inside the Sliema council, that Borg Olivier directed him to choose Green MT, a company owned by the GRTU, to provide waste recovery services for the council.

Vince Farrugia, the GRTU director-general, is a former candidate for the PN who ran for MEP

According to Dimech’s statements to the IAID, Borg Olivier called him 15 minutes before the start of a council meeting, instructing him to choose Green MT for an alleged €1.2 million tender. The GRTU are disputing the value quoted by the mayor and contend the value is far less.

In a reaction later yesterday evening, Borg Olivier said the allegations were unfounded and that he would take legal action against Dimech. Borg Olivier has also sued MaltaToday on two separate news items dealing with the Sliema electoral district.

Now the GRTU has entered the fray, in a denial of the statements relayed by Dimech to the IAID inquiry that were first reported by MaltaToday.

“The mayor says he acted under pressure of the PN secretary-general. For the GRTU, what the mayor said is an invention. Green MT was in negotiations with the Sliema mayor to reach the best arrangement possible,” a GRTU spokesperson.

GRTU said it also denied ever asking any political intervention for Green MT and that it is present in both Labour and Nationalist-led councils.

GRTU said the agreement for waste recovery would include paying €332,000 to contractors and €4,000 to the Sliema council over two years.

“The €1.2 million figure cited by the Sliema mayor is a haphazard guess,” the GRTU said, adding that the council does not pay for this service. Instead, Green MT collects the balance from what receives from waste producers, and passes part of this to the local council.