New Transport Malta CEO will be regulating his own business

The Shift can report that the new Transport Malta CEO – Aaron Farrugia’s political appointee Jonathan Borg – is a maritime industry businessman with personal interests across all the business platforms that are regulated by the transport authority.

Sources close to Transport Malta told The Shift that while it was Prime Minister Robert Abela who agreed to remove Brigadier Jeffrey Curmi from the post less than 12 months after his appointment, it was Farrugia who insisted on Borg being his replacement.

Farrugia had already appointed Borg to another post, that of Yachting Malta chairman, just a few months ago.

Maritime industry sources, “shocked” by the Government’s choice, told The Shift that Jonathan Borg, 54, has been in the maritime industry since a young age. He was once an employee of Paul Abela, a Gozitan businessman with close ties to the maritime industry and the main shareholder of Malta Maritime Hub – the concessionaire of the former Malta shipbuilding facilities in Marsa.

Abela’s business is currently in the process of changing hands.

Branching off into his own business ventures, Borg set up several companies that are all related to the maritime industry and transport services under the name of Bluhull Group.

The company, which Borg owns together with his wife, Sharon Cassar Borg, offers services that depend almost entirely on permits and licences issued by Transport Malta.

These include port services, a super yacht agency, rig stop facilities and others.

It is also understood that Borg also spent years conducting oil and gas industry-related business in Libya.

“It is simply unbelievable that someone with his own maritime business is made the chief of the industry’s regulator. A bigger conflict of interest than this is difficult to have,” one maritime industry source said.

The Shift’s research shows Borg is still a shareholder of Bluhull Holdings Ltd, Bluhull Management Limited, and Bluhull Marine Agency Ltd, among others. He is also a shareholder in a cargo handling and storage facility, BHC Ltd, together with several other businessmen.

Borg resigned from his directorships of all the companies, which were assumed by his wife, just a few weeks ago and after the announcement that Brigadier Curmi was to be sacked.

He is, however, still a shareholder in all the companies.

Transport Malta has been going from one scandal to the next recently, with former Minister Ian Borg having doubled its staff complement.

His successor Aaron Farrugia has meanwhile not managed to deliver results with transport problems visibly on the increase.

The Shift is also informed that the Prime Minister is currently trying to find an alternative position for Brigadier Curmi. The Shift has reported that Curmi is insisting on compensation for the rest of his contract, over €200,000, or an alternative government job with the same conditions.

Curmi has so far not given a reason for his early departure.