Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba, government entity CEO Rodrick Zerafa and three other people who worked for the MEP's office have been questioned by police as part of an ongoing magisterial inquiry into alleged procurement irregularities linked to a 2020 contract, Times of Malta reports.

Agius Saliba, who was questioned by police on Friday afternoon, strongly denies any wrongdoing and has described the investigation as a "political frame-up".

Zerafa, his former business partner Darryl Farrugia, accountant Kenneth Swaine and Agius Saliba's former assistant Christine Catania Bonello were questioned under arrest on Thursday, the report adds.

Zerafa is currently CEO of Servizzi Ewropej Malta (SEM), the government entity which assists citizens with EU funding. Farrugia describes himself as a government advisor on LinkedIn.

The inquiry concerns marketing and communications services provided to Agius Saliba by Red Agency Limited, a company formerly co-owned by Zerafa and Farrugia.

Investigators are examining whether there were irregularities in the procurement procedure through which Red Agency was selected in 2020.

Under European Parliament procurement rules, MEPs can engage service providers for "specialised and clearly identified services". When the value exceeds €60,000, MEPs are required to seek quotes from at least three separate providers.

Red Agency was selected from three quotations to provide marketing and communications services to Agius Saliba's office in June 2020.

Investigators are understood to suspect that some of the quotations received may have originated from the same source, potentially indicating irregularities in the procurement process.

Agius Saliba told the Times of Malta that Red Agency had initially been engaged in 2019, after he was first elected to the European Parliament, on a one-year contract for marketing services.

He said the company had been selected directly because the value of the contract was below the €60,000 threshold set by European Parliament rules. He also noted that the company had previously contributed to his electoral campaign.

Once that contract expired, Agius Saliba said his office began a new procurement procedure covering the remainder of his parliamentary term. Requests for quotations were sent to Red Agency, Halo and Montage.

Red Agency was subsequently awarded the contract at approximately €3,400 a month. According to Agius Saliba, the company provided services for one year and eight months and received around €64,000 in total.

The contract was eventually rescinded at the company's request, while Red Agency itself closed down in 2025.

Agius Saliba said the procurement process came under suspicion because two of the quotations had been generated using the same "not run-of-the-mill" accounting software.

Investigators also questioned why the descriptions of the services were identical in the different quotations.

Agius Saliba, however, said this was standard practice, arguing that companies commonly copy and paste descriptions of services when preparing submissions.

He insisted that investigators were not examining allegations of financial wrongdoing.

"The company carried out all the work it was paid for," he told the Times of Malta.

Agius Saliba said the procurement process had been handled by Swaine and Catania Bonello, adding that he retained full confidence in both.

"The contract was approved and agreed upon by the European Parliament at the time," he said.

Agius Saliba also claimed that the investigation had been triggered by an anonymous report submitted to the EU's anti-fraud agency OLAF and the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), which subsequently approached a local magistrate.

He made the further claim that the anonymous report had originated from the office of European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

Metsola became president of the European Parliament in 2022, two years after the procurement process being investigated.

Agius Saliba repeated the allegation on Facebook, describing the case as a "political frame-up".

However, a spokesperson for Metsola told the Times of Malta that the accusation was "absolutely untrue".

"The President is legally precluded from commenting further on any possible investigation/s and is bound by the confidentiality demanded of her office in any such cases," the spokesperson said.

Zerafa and Farrugia also strongly rejected the allegations when approached by the Times of Malta.

They said they "categorically deny these allegations" and maintained that Red Agency had responded to the call for quotations "in good faith and on the same terms as any other participant".

They said the award of the contract had been "reviewed and approved by the European Parliament's own services" and was carried out in accordance with EU rules.

"Every service we were paid for was actually provided," they said, adding that this was supported by documents, invoices and receipts submitted to the European Parliament at the time.

"We are cooperating with the Police and are confident that the documentary evidence will show that the procedures were above board and in line with provided guidelines and regulations," they said.