Strong links established between Gozo minister, architect ‘friend’

The Shift News has established strong verifiable links between Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri and his architect friend Godwin Agius, increasing suspicions regarding a €722,000 direct order issued by the Gozo Ministry in connection with a multi-million-euro road building project in Nadur.

Research by The Shift shows Agius operated from an office in Gozo. He issued letters on his office’s letterhead—GA&A—Godwin Agius and Associates—which also bears the address of his Gozo office at 19 Triq Cicciano, Nadur.

The Shift found that Minister Clint Camilleri’s mother owns these premises—the same office the minister used as an architect before he was elected minister.

Moreover, Minister Camilleri is registered as residing at the same premises, according to the last electoral register for the MEP elections held in 2024.

Minister Camilleri avoided a direct reply when asked for explanations on some of the links discovered. The architect, Godwin Agius, failed to provide any answers at all.

The Nadur connection

The pair made news just a few weeks ago when a report by the National Audit Office revealed that the Gozo Ministry, led by Clint Camilleri, gave Agius a massive direct order for a multi-million-euro road project in Nadur.

Agius was paid a staggering €721,511 for his services as the Gozo Ministry’s architect overseeing the project.

The same project cost some €10 million more than the initial estimate in the tender, and Agius verified most of the works.

The road project is currently the subject of a request for a magisterial investigation involving Minister Camilleri.

When contacted, Minister Clint Camilleri insisted that Agius was selected for the job through established public procurement rules.

At the same time, he failed to explain his closeness to the architect and how his mother’s residence ended up being Agius’s architectural firm’s office.

Camilleri also avoided providing a list of contracts and direct orders he gave Aguis since he occupied government offices, including the Gozo Ministry.

The Shift won a Freedom of Information request for the same list, and the Data Protection Commissioner ordered its release. The Gozo Ministry ignored the ruling and filed an appeal to conceal this information.

In his reply to The Shift, Minister Camilleri’s spokesperson said:“Perit Godwin Agius has never been a part of the Minister’s Secretariat or the SPU (adviser).”

He added: “Following verifications with the relevant department, it results that Perit Agius was appointed as a Technical Expert by the Ministry (on the Nadur project) following a competitive procedure, in line with the requirements of Legal Notice 352/16.”

The Ministry insisted that Agius’ appointment “resulted from submitting the lowest and technically compliant bid. Under the same rules, all submissions were received in a sealed tender box, publicly opened and evaluated by an independent evaluation committee, which recommended Perit Agius for the contract. The final contract award was also reviewed and approved by the Department of Contracts.”

The spokesperson also said Minister Camilleri “does not, and has never, interfered with any procurement processes”.

Asked to explain Agius’s connections to the Minister’s mother’s property, the spokesperson said: “The residence Diana at 19, Triq Cicciano, Nadur, has been in the Minister’s family for generations and is owned by his mother. The property has not been leased to any third party.”

“As previously clarified in earlier correspondence, the Minister ceased his limited professional practice upon his election and appointment as Parliamentary Secretary in June 2017. Clients were directed to seek services from other architects, and all ongoing work, including hard and soft documents, was transferred to the respective architects of the clients’ choosing.

Newly appointed architects may have continued to reference the office address during the brief transition period. However, not only did the Minister cease his practice, as already explained, but the office has remained completely inactive.”

The Minister failed to explain how Agius used his mother’s property as his office, how he was registered as residing at Aguis’s office and his connections to the architect.

Who is Godwin Agius?

Architect Godwin Agius and Minister Clint Camilleri have a long history.

The pair used to work at the same architectural office, Med Design, owned by former Labour Party Minister Charles Buhagiar.

Agius has been involved with the Labour Party for a long time. He also serves as the party’s counting hall agent during elections.

Since Labour was elected to power in 2013, Aguis has been awarded several government jobs, including at Enemalta and Engineering Resources Ltd, while continuing his private practice, which also received several direct orders from the government.

One of the latest is Minister Miriam Dalli’s €150,000 contract through Enemalta for the so-called Pont tas-Shell project in her Birżebbuġa constituency.

Agius further consolidated his bond with the Gozo Minister since Camilleri was also made responsible for the Planning portfolio.

Apart from the Nadur Project direct order, he was also given other road projects in Gozo while employed full-time as a senior project manager at the Gozo Regional Development Authority (GRDA), a satellite organisation of the Gozo Ministry.

Agius doesn’t reside in Gozo even though the GRDA’s offices are in Victoria, Gozo.

Last year, Minister Camilleri appointed his close friend to the Executive Committee of the Planning Authority.

Agius also holds other important government positions, including chairman of Interconnect Malta, the government entity responsible for the €200 million project to lay a second interconnector with Sicily, and chairman of the construction industry licensing committee of the Building and Construction Authority.