Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1350550
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 MARCH 2021 10 NEWS MATTHEW AGIUS A court has rejected a request for a prohibitory injunction against a bidder for a security contract at the University of Malta, de- spite being told the company awarded the tender was owned by a man with a criminal convic- tion for acting as an unlicensed security guard. Lawyer Carlos Bugeja, for Sig- nal 8 Security Services Malta, wrote to the Director of Con- tracts to bring to his attention that on 6 January 2021, Ste- phen Ciangura, the majority shareholder and administrator of Executive Security Services, had been found guilty of work- ing as a private security guard or offering private security ser- vices without a licence. This had emerged in a sepa- rate case where Ciangura and another person are accused of attacking and slightly injuring a man. In that case, the Court of Appeal had underlined that Ciangura worked as a manager with a security company at a nightclub, and that he had been at the nightclub in question for work-related reasons and not for recreation at the time of the offence. Ciangura was also charged after an incident at the Plus One Club in Paceville, in which scores were injured following a stampede caused by the dis- charge of pepper spray. The magisterial inquiry into the in- cident had highlighted the role of unlicenced security guards as a contributing factor. In the application for a war- rant of prohibitory injunction filed in February, Bugeja asked the court to prevent the com- pany from working at the Uni- versity. "Beyond the fact that these actions alone bring about the suspension of the private guard licence, the gravity of the crime with which Ciangu- ra has been found guilty of is evident and raises many ques- tions about his integrity and professionalism," reads the letter. In addition, it said, the crime related directly with the work and services offered by Executive Security Services Ltd whilst carrying out tenders giv- en to it. "99.999% of shares of a com- pany that wants to tender se- curity services to government authorities are held by a person who has been found guilty of committing illegal acts whilst offering the same type of secu- rity services," Bugeja wrote. Bugeja argued that the com- pany should be blacklisted and not servicing the University. Signal 8 had appealed an April 2018 decision by the Public Contract Revision Board to up- hold the choice by a University of Malta selection board for a security service provider. The two companies had been amongst others who submitted bids after the University issued a call for the provision of secu- rity services on the campuses of the University of Malta, the Junior College and other Uni- versity designated sites. Signal 8 had won the tender and the Department of Contracts had informed ESS of this fact, but ESS had filed an objection to the Public Contract Revision Board, asking that its offer be reassessed. That board upheld ESS Ltd's contentions, finding against the award of the tender and or- dered that the bid be reassessed after taking into consideration the board's recommendations. Signal 8 appealed this deci- sion but the Court of Appeal dismissed the case, saying the reasons for which the compa- ny's bid had been penalised in the bid evaluation "are not true and not relevant to the purpos- es of the bids' transparency. There the Board of Revision was correct in ordering the se- lection process to start again in the light of the board's own conclusions." Court dismisses action against club doorman with criminal conviction Birkirkara footbridge to replace traffic lights JAMES DEBONO A 14m-high footbridge will re- place the existing pelican lights across the McDonalds restau- rant on Valley Road in Birkir- kara, in a project proposed by Infrastructure Malta. Equipped with eight-person capacity lifts for cyclists and people with impaired mobility, IM claims the bridge will facili- tate pedestrian crossings at Val- ley Road. At presemt, pedestrians cross- ing from Triq il-Knisja l-Qadi- ma must go down a ramp or use a small flight of stairs. Pedestri- ans walking towards the centre of the town must use the stairs or ramps connecting Valley Road with Qrejzu Street. An IM spokesperson also hint- ed that the decision is linked to increased waiting times at the traffic lights, triggered by an increase in area traffic. "Dur- ing recent studies, many pedes- trians were observed ignoring the pelican lights and crossing on red," the spokesperson told MaltaToday. IM claims the congestion caused by these pelican lights contributes to increased air pol- lution in the heart of Birkirkara, while on days of heavy rainfall the low-lying road is frequent- ly flooded at the pelican lights crossing, leaving pedestrians stranded. The bridge is meant to "ease access" to the southbound 'Suq' bus lay-by, one of the busiest stops of the public transport network in this area. The safe crossing will be a quicker route for pedestrians, and maximise the pit The proposed footbridge at this crossroads will maximise the potential of different levels between the intersecting streets to create a safer segregated road crossing and a quicker route for pedestrians. The PA's advisory panel on de- sign issues has yet to pronounce itself on the visual impact of the imposing structure and has asked IM for photomontages on the streetscape. A similar footbridge is being proposed by IM for its Msida Creek flyover project, which has been objected to by NGOs and cyclists who claim it will impair mobility. Tunisian man held on theft, fraud and forgery charges A 30-year-old Pieta resident has been remanded in custody after being arraigned in court over theft, fraud and forgery charges. The man, Tunisian Mahmoud Moghrabi was arraigned before magistrate Nadine Lia yester- day morning and accused of stealing designer clothing worth over €2,300 from a shop in Iklin, amongst other charges. In total, Moghrabi was accused of 18 offences, including the theft of an electric scooter worth over €2,300 which had been parked in San Gwann. He was also accused of stealing a chequebook and us- ing it to purchase items from a perfumery in Valletta after forg- ing the owner's signature. Moghrabi's charge sheet also lists a theft of documents and other items from a car in Sliema on the night of 9 March, handling stolen goods and defrauding a hotel in St Julian's. This was far from Moghrabi's first brush with the law. He has previously been charged with theft from a number of estab- lishments and causing criminal damage, as well as falsifying sig- natures on stolen cheques. Moghrabi was also accused of committing the offences whilst under a probation order handed down in September 2019, recid- ivism and living an idle and va- grant life. He was arrested in a residence in Gzira. A search of the property and his car returned several sto- len items. In the dock Moghrabi did not enter a plea and so a plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf. He was not granted bail. Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi was defence counsel. Inspectors An- drew Agius, Michael Vella and Leeroy Balzan Engerer prosecut- ed. Man dead, woman hospitalised in separate falling incidents A man has died and a woman was hospitalised after falls in separate incidents on Friday night. At 8pm, a 59-year-old Ameri- can national died after tripping up whilst descending a staircase in Misrah Dom Mawru Inguanez in Senglea. Emergency respond- ers rushed to the scene but the man could not be saved. Magis- trate Astrid May Grima is leading an inquiry into the man's death. Later that night, the police were informed of another incident in which a 55-year-old woman was grievously injured after falling down a shaft in a construction site in Bahar ic-Caghaq. Police are investigating the incident.