Company behind Marfa Palace project does not exist on the MFSA registry

Julian Bonnici Exclusivity Malta Ltd, the company behind the bid for the re-development of Marfa Palace into a boutique hotel, does not exist on the Malta Financial Services Authority’s Registry of Companies, with the Lands Authority refusing to disclose who exactly is behind the project, The Malta Independent on Sunday can reveal.

After attempting to carry out numerous searches into the company through various sources and other publicly available information, this newsroom observed that there was no trace of the company, it being noticeably absent on the MFSA registry, despite regulations clearly stipulating that all commercial partnerships, including companies, are to be registered on the Registry irrespective of what type of activities they carry out.

This raised serious questions as to whether the company actually existed, and how it could even be possible for a company to enter into a tendering process without being officially registered with the MFSA.

This newsroom decided to approach The Ministry for Transport, Infrastructure and Planning to query this discrepancy and was directed to the Lands Authority, which is overseeing the bid.

When asked specifically why the company did not appear on the MFSA registry and who were the owners behind the company, Lands Authority CEO Carlo Mifsud sent a short reply saying that “Exclusivity Malta Ltd is a Joint Venture between 3 different parties. This was notified at the time of submitting the EOI back in 2013.”

Mifsud has since refused to reply to any follow-up questions after being reminded that he had not actually answered the questions sent to him and that the company did not exist according to the MFSA registry.

The company was announced as the preferred bidders in April 2015 by Minister Michael Falzon, who at the time was Parliamentary Secretary for Planning, after an initial expression of interest, which yielded six applicants, was issued in October 2013.

Last month, Planning Minister Ian Borg said that the negotiations over the project were in their final stages and that the proposal was now being passed to the Board of Governors of the Lands Authority, echoing a similar answer he had provided in November, when he said that the valuation of the property was taking place in order to be passed on to the same Board of Governors

The Palace stands on the remains of a coastal redoubt and battery – the Wied Musa Battery – which was built by the Knights of the Order of St John in 1716. In the 19th century it was converted into the Marfa Palace Hotel and was subsequently used as a retreat and summer residence for the Missionary Society of St Paul (MSSP) community, which runs St Joseph’s Home in Santa Venera. It has also served as a police station but has been neglected in recent years.

The palace was built on the remains of a coastal redoubt and battery dating back to the time of the Knights of St John and had actually served as a hotel in the first half of the last century. It also served as a summer residence by the St Joseph Home of Santa Venera, and as a police station, but has been unused and neglected in recent years.