Minister denies conflict over works by car park developers

Jason Azzopardi employed Elbros Construction to carry out works on his constituency office in Paola while dealing with the same company as Lands Minister on a lease agreement regarding the MCP car park in Floriana. However, Dr Azzopardi has denied a conflict of interest, saying he acted above board at every stage and only asked the company to carry out the works after a plasterer dropped out for family reasons. Dr Azzopardi submitted all the information about the case to The Sunday Times, including copies of the invoice, cheque and receipt, after he learnt that he may come under political attack on the issue from an MP. Saviour Ellul, the chairman of Elbros, is also the operator of the MCP car park which is currently in the process of extending a lease agreement with the Government. The agreement has not yet been signed but questions have already been raised by Nationalist MP Jesmond Mugliett over the amounts being paid by the Government. However, Dr Azzopardi said negotiations with MCP were concluded long before he asked the company to carry out works, for which he paid €4,471, VAT included. “I presented the package on the MCP car park to Cabinet on March 6,” says Dr...