Leading audit firm PwC Malta has told this newsroom that it was not involved in the Times of Malta printing press bidding process, despite having been named in court as the firm that audited the deal.
Former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri, his father Alfio, business associates Robert Zammit and Malcolm Scerri and former Allied Newsapers managing director Vince Buhagiar have been charged with money laundering over the deal. Procedures are also underway to extradite former managing director Adrian Hillman to Malta from the UK.
A court has heard how the €13 million printing machine was bought through offhshore companies to evade tax and how the company that owns Times of Malta was defrauded of over €6.5 million, with the profit planned to be split between Schembri, Scerri, Hillman and Buhagiar.
Earlier this week, Inspector Joseph Xerri from the Financial Crimes Investigation Department (FCID) told the court that the printing press deal was “audited” by PwC.
Asked by the magistrate, Xerri said PwC’s audit was not reviewed by the police as part of their investigations. He said the police already had two expert reports compiled as part of the magisterial inquiry into the graft claims.
This newspaper contacted PwC Malta asking how the facts surfacing in court were not picked up during the audit. A spokesperson said that, “While we do not comment on client engagements, in this case we inform you that we were not engaged to, and in fact did not, carry out an audit of the procurement/bidding process of Allied Newspapers Group in respect of the acquisition of the printing press."
The company refused to elaborate when asked for a clarification.
Kevin Valenzia
Meanwhile, industry sources have questioned how a former senior PwC partner formed part of an Allied Newspapers internal inquiry that probed the very same deal. Kevin Valenzia was on the four-man Allied board inquiry that was headed by retired judge Giovanni Bonello. The conclusions of that inquiry have never been published, despite pressure from the media, including from Times of Malta’s own newsroom.