Watch: Parliamentary committee must probe €274m direct order, say PD

The Democratic Party is calling for an urgent Public Accounts Committee meeting about a €274 million direct order for the 10-year management of a new facility at St Vincent de Paul Residence for the elderly.

PD MPs Godfrey Farrugia and Marlene Farrugia wrote to PAC chairman on Sunday morning, urging him to call a meeting on the matter and ask the Auditor General to investigate. The PAC is currently chaired by PN MP Beppe Fenech Adami.

The government has kept the contract that it awarded to James Caterers and Malta Healthcare Company, a subsidiary of the Seabank db Group, under wraps and refused calls to publish it.

Commercial lawyers have told The Sunday Times of Malta that from what has been published so far, “there are strong indications that laws have been breached and the deal could be challenged both in local and European courts of law”.

Addressing the media outside the residence, Godfrey Farrugia said the Nationalist Opposition had meanwhile remained silent, “despite the fact that the leader of the Opposition met the contractors who were awarded the contract”.

He also asked why Finance Minister Edward Scicluna did not know about the contract, and why, since then, Prime...