Hour-long Special Olympics opening ceremony in Valletta cost €1.8 million

The opening ceremony of the Special Olympics Invitational Games held in Valletta’s St George’s Square last May set taxpayers back almost €2 million.

Most of the work was carried out by the same organisers involved in the Labour Party’s electoral campaign just a few weeks earlier. At the same time, some 80 additional direct orders were issued just a few days in the run-up to the ceremony.

An analysis of new information tabled in parliament following questions by Opposition MP Mark Anthony Sammut shows the bulk of the activities required to set up the stage, sound and lighting systems for the occasion was awarded by tender to the same group of companies that had organised Labour’s mass events for its electoral campaign just two months earlier.

But even in this case, where the tender was issued through a so-called ‘accelerated procedure’ that severely limits competition, the near-€1 million budget earmarked for the ceremony was significantly overshot.

Nexos & Co Ltd, the lighting company used by the Labour Party for its political meeting requirements during the last electoral campaign, was supposed to have spent some €445,000 on the event but ended up being paid €580,000 – an additional €135,000.

IStage Ltd, owned by Charles Magro, the staunch Labour activist who has been awarded millions of euros in direct orders through his company TEC Ltd, spent over €100,000 more than what had been allocated and ended up being paid €485,000.

ICAN Ltd, owned by Keith Chetcuti, a close collaborator of disgraced former OPM boss Keith Schembri, was paid €227,000, which is €80,000 more than what had been allocated for the service.

According to the tender, these companies should have been responsible for all the facilities needed for the event. But Festivals Malta, controlled directly by one of Prime Minister Robert Abela’s persons of trust (Aaron Zahra), issued a raft of direct orders to cover extra costs.

Making sure that several others close to the Party take a piece of the pie, even during an event dedicated to people with special needs, at least 80 different direct orders were issued in the final few days before the ceremony, which lasted for an hour.

Among the direct orders was almost €10,000 awarded to Jean Naudi for makeup, €5,000 to Conrad Cachia for hair styling, €600 to Simon Bartolo for ‘writing services’, €1,710 to purchase coffee machines for ‘backstage hospitality’, and even €423 for a Raja & Co dress for singer Ira Losco.

Anton Attard’s Mint Media was meanwhile paid €3,500 for a TV operator, Yada Dance Company, owned by veteran dancer and Labour candidate Felix Busuttil, was paid €3,500 for direction and choreographic input, while Ronnie Vella, another Labour activist, was paid €560 for acting as the event’s coordinator.

In total, all the extra costs and direct orders saw taxpayers footing an additional €276,000 for the event, which brought the opening ceremony’s total costs up to a staggering €1.8 million.

The ceremony was presided over by the Prime Minister’s wife, Lydia Abela, who replaced Michelle Muscat as President of Special Olympics Malta after Joseph Muscat’s ousting from Castille.