Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said today that he is being unjustly treated over the Avantgarde Projects Ltd situation, saying he was being blamed for a situation that took place in the previous administration.

It was reported by The Sunday Times that he ordered a contractor to be paid over €400,000 for works which were not approved by the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools.

The report said that the contractor was not in line with tender obligations which were issued back in 2011, and works carried out at St Ignatius College in Qormi, without FTS Board approval. Minister Bartolo endorsed the recommendation by Joe Caruana (The Education Ministry Permanent Secretary) to settle Avantgarde Projects Ltd's claim for payment, the report said.

Asked whether he met with Avantgarde Projects Ltd before or after the elections by the press, the minister said that he is not going to play the game of those who have a dishonest, partisan and unjust agenda.

He said that the problems were created by the previous administration when the FTS back then ordered the works by this company, told them they would pay them and then did not keep their word. He said that the issue was now being turned onto him.

He said that he is part of the solution and not the problem.  He said that an NAO report shows how haphazardly things were done within the FTS back then, and now today, "there are people throwing situations which I am trying to solve at me, trying to paint them as a problem which I caused"

In an earlier statement, the education ministry said that this case goes back a number of years and had already received press attention back in 2013, when reports in the media indicated that Mr Vella of Avantgarde Project Limited reported to the police a number of allegations of irregularities by the person running the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools (FTS) back in 2012, in relation to the same tender on works which took place at a Ħandaq school.

The ministry had said that the additional work was requested by FTS under the previous administration, with the understanding that it would pay for such additional works. "This present Ministry, like many other cases dating before 2013, had to pick up the pieces as well as the bills of the previous administration. It is worth noting that the FTS works being mentioned were commissioned in 2012 without any care for public procurement regulations. Had public procurement regulations and proper project management been followed by FTS in 2012, there would be no case whatsoever and payments would have taken place on time in a normal manner and work would have completed on time".

"In this particular case, after the change in administration the rate which the company was paid by the Ministry for the additional work was the same rate which it won the tender with. The total amount paid was considerably less than what was being requested by the contractor - which was well over €500,000".