Fishing cooperative given €90,000 loan against no receipts

The fishing cooperative, which has been slapped with a judicial letter after it failed to pay back a €95,407 loan granted in 2002 was given the money by previous administrations against one invoice of just €14,000.

The loan was agreed in 2002 for a project to set up a freezing/cold storage and packing facility but sources close to the government said this could amount to misappropriation of funds because the loan was paid in six instalments but no invoices or receipts – bar one invoice for €13,976 – were presented to the fisheries department by the Ghaqda Koperattiva tas-Sajd.

Two weeks ago, MaltaToday reported that the fisheries department confirmed that Ghaqda Koperattiva tas-Sajd has not repaid the loan and “the cooperative has been served with a judicial letter filed in court for the repayment of the loan.” 

The loan was granted by the fisheries department – then in the portfolio of former PN minister Ninu Zammit – for the freezing/cold storage and packing facility, which the department said was to enable fishermen “pack their catch in an approved establishment and seek markets abroad.” 

The payments were made between August 2002 and October 2003. Except for the payment voucher issued to Salvu Camilleri for structural works carried out at the cooperative’s premises in Marsaxlokk, the rest of the money was paid in five instalments directly to the cooperative. 

In comments to MaltaToday two weeks ago, the cooperative’s secretary, Pawlu Piscopo, said that the cooperative has replied to the government through its lawyers and is demanding more breathing time and the facility to pay the loan in instalments.  

The cooperative’s latest accounts submitted to the Board of Cooperatives, clearly show that it is in financially dire straits.  

He also claimed that legal proceedings against a third party are impeding the cooperative from using the facilities in Marsaxlokk.

But in comments to MaltaToday, the operator of the freezing and sorting facility at the cooperative’s premises, Angelic Mifsud, said that when he took over the building some eight years ago it was bare except for a single freezer.

Mifsud, who is locked in a protracted legal battle with the cooperative, with which he had entered into an agreement for a fish import and export operation at the cooperative’s premises in Marsaxlokk said that he spent well over one million euros to set up the business.

“I don’t know where the money given to them by the government went, but it surely was not spent on the premises I took over,” he said.

The cooperative is also facing eviction from the top floor of the building where it still has its offices, as the Government Property Division has not renewed the lease.

In June 2015, the cooperative was informed that the GPD would not be renew the lease and was given up to the end of December 2015 to vacate the building.

However, the cooperative is still making use of the building as the decision has been put on hold by legal proceedings. 

In a separate court decision in 2014, the operating agreement between the cooperative and Mifsud’s Lambusa Maritime Company Limited was declared null and the company was ordered to pay €66,411 in unpaid operating fees, and €37,539 in electricity bills. 

The 2014 audited accounts – submitted in February of this year – gave the cooperative an adverse opinion because it failed to recover over €56,000 from its commercial debtors and suffered a €37,105 loss. 

The report, compiled by auditing company Parker Randall Turner, said that “if these debts are not recovered, the cooperative will be in a critical situation and will not be in a position to repay its creditors” including the government.   

Over and above the outstanding loan with the fisheries department, the cooperative owes some €90,000 in unpaid water and electricity bills. 

However Mifsud refuted Piscopo’s claims that he owes any money for unpaid water and electricity bills.

MaltaToday saw receipts showing that Mifsud paid ARMS Ltd all monies due to the billing company and asked “where has the money I paid the cooperative for electricity bills gone?” 

Mifsud also asked where had other payments for the use of the premises made to the cooperative gone. 

In an affidavit Piscopo claimed that up to March 2012, Mifsud had only paid €21,000 but receipts in possession of the latter show that between January 2008 and March 2012 he had paid the cooperative just under €90,000.

Due to the legal wrangling Lambusa’s operation is at a standstill, costing the company millions in lost revenues.