Opinion: Good work

One year ago, disgraced former MFSA chief Joseph Cuschieri was appointed Project Green CEO.  “I am keen to keep building on the good work carried out by my predecessor, Steve Ellul,” Cuschieri said.

Ellul was another of Minister Miriam Dalli’s blue-eyed boys. He was appointed Project Green CEO with huge pomp in January 2023 but barely lasted 12 months. He quit to contest the MEP elections, only to be appointed Infrastructure Malta CEO just weeks after his failed bid.

So what was all this “good work”  Ellul did at Project Green? The National Audit Office (NAO) report has the answer – and there was no “good work”. It was a disaster.

The NAO looked at a sample of urban greening initiatives that Steve Ellul’s Project Green embarked on. Out of 98 projects, only 19 were completed, and most were still in the initial phases.

The NAO found chaos—the absence of essential project details in the agreements, lack of timely certification, absence of monitoring reports, inadequate explanations for significant project delays, and lack of accountability and transparency in project management and execution.

If that is Joseph Cuschieri’s idea of “good work,” what would bad work look like?

Labour bragged it would give Project Green €700 million to maintain public gardens and other open spaces over seven years.  That’s around €100 million per year.  But for the financial year 2023, Labour gave Project Green just €10 million under Capital Vote XVI, Line Item 7452.

That’s a pitiful 1.4% of what Labour promised.  What’s even more hilarious is that the great Steve Ellul only managed to spend €6.9 million, the majority in the very last quarter of 2023.

In April 2023, the rubble boundary walls around the Sant’ Antnin Family park in Marsaskala collapsed, and the 6-metre high retaining wall was in danger.  Project Green signed an agreement with a contractor to reconstruct those walls within 12 weeks for €751,960.

Project Green told the NAO the works were completed by 19 September. But the final architect’s certificate was dated 13 November, almost two months later.  By then, the contractor’s performance guarantee had expired.

In May 2023, Project Green entered into an agreement with San Gwann local council to create a pollinator garden. Project Green was responsible for monitoring progress.  Joseph Cuschieri claimed that “monitoring was being carried out by regular on-site visits, pictures taken”. However, the NAO found no site photos were taken, and that monitoring wasn’t regular.

The Local Council was meant to provide Project Green with weekly monitoring reports.  Sometimes, almost three months elapsed before any update was provided, and that was simply through phone calls or informal site visits.

Not surprisingly, the project, meant to be completed in six months, took over 10 months.  Eight months after the project was supposedly completed no final architect’s certificate had been issued because of a dispute between the council’s architect and the contractor.

That was almost inevitable.  The agreement that Project Green entered into lacked the most important details.  Not even the project cost was included.

That wasn’t the only project Project Green messed up. The agreement with the Kalkara local council over a garden called Ġnejnet ic-Ċkejken Ziam lacked a basic description of the project.  It didn’t even include the amount of money Project Green was meant to reimburse the council.

That project was meant to be completed within four months.  But the works were only certified six months later. No explanation was given for the delay.  No Bill of Quantities was issued.  The NAO couldn’t understand on what basis the architect’s final certificate was issued.

What was even more suspect was the fact that an agreement was signed on 31 October 2022 with a contractor to carry out the work.  But the contract award notice was only issued on 10 April 2023 preventing other aggrieved bidding contractors from appealing.

Even worse, the order to start work was issued on the same day as the signed agreement and the first invoice was issued by that contractor on 16 December 2022 confirming that the works commenced prior to the contract notice publication.

That certainly didn’t sound like “good work” to the NAO.  The whole agency was in total disarray, overseeing a staggering level of mismanagement and incompetence.

What’s even more depressing is that replacing Steve Ellul is Joseph Cuschieri, a man whose notoriety precedes him. Cuschieri was forced to resign from his MFSA role after being found guilty of breaching the rules when he took a trip to Las Vegas with his friend Edwina Licari, which was fully funded by Yorgen Fenech.

Cuschieri was caught topping up his generous financial package at the MFSA with perks and honoraria to which he wasn’t entitled.  He repeatedly abused the procurement system, bypassing procedures to issue direct orders. He breached the European Central Bank’s Code of Conduct.

He abusively fired COO Reuben Fenech when Fenech tried to stop Cuschieri breaking the rules. Cuschieri was found guilty of causing undue hardship to Fenech. The Industrial tribunal ordered the MFSA to pay Fenech €413,688 in compensation for income lost and moral damages.  Cuschieri was responsible – but he didn’t pay those penalties; we did.

Cuschieri hasn’t changed. At Project Green. he’s busy recruiting his friends and acquaintances on lucrative pay packages. He put no less than 19 of them in key positions at Project Green.

A Freedom of Information request by The Shift revealed they’ll cost the state over €1 million. Apart from their high salaries Cuschieri gave them “responsibility allowances”, fuel and car allowances,”project allowances” and even a “warrant allowance”.

The highest paid of Cuschieri’s recruits is Beverly Cutajar who also worked with Cuschieri at the Malta Gaming Authority and the MFSA. Cuschieri is paying her €80,000 for a new job – Chief Officer for People and Culture.  That smells like another fake job to me, especially since Cutajar also chairs the Malta Film Commission and runs her private consultancy.

One thing is certain: With Joseph Cuschieri at Project Green, we’re guaranteed more “good work”. Watch this space.