The funds were dished out as a part of a taxpayer-funded initiative of the Planning Authority. A similar project by the St Paul’s Bay local council cost just €15,000. 

“The prices don’t make sense,” Bulletproof’s Adam Sullivan said when Lovin Malta first reported on the case.

At the time, newly-elected MP Romilda Baldacchino Zarb was the mayor who approved the project.

The project was inaugurated back in February by Baldacchino Zarb, together with Minister Aaron Farrugia.

The owner of Salvin Limited is a certain Aldo Campo, an Italian national whose registered address is in Gulfi, Sicily. Campo also owns Alhag Limited, but records on their work and services are hard to come by.

Salvin Ltd was previously owned and directed by Vincenzo Salerno, from Catania. He transferred the shares and appointed Campo as director in July 2020. The invoice issued by the Mosta Council was paid and approved in that same month and in August.

The contract date began on 3rd March 2021, around eight months later.

Worryingly, it is difficult to find proper records of Salvin Ltd’s operations in Malta. Its registered address is the same as corporate and financial advisory firm CSA Group. Charles Scerri, CSA’s founder, is Salvin’s auditor.

Lovin Malta’s attempt to get the figures from the local council and the ministry responsible for them proved almost impossible with authorities regularly refusing to pass on the information citing confidentiality clauses. 

“The Council does not feel that it should continue to waste any more time on this matter,” it said when pressed for figures.

However, an FOI request to the Planning Authority, which was responsible for the fund, eventually proved successful. 

What do you think of the figures?