Apr 23 - GSD Raises Questions on Private Company with No 6 Convent Place Address
The GSD has expressed concern over private limited company ‘Construction and Maintenance Company Limited’ which is registered at the Chief Minister’s Office at Number 6 Convent Place. The GSD adds that the sole director is not a civil servant, but is in fact a well-known and vocal GSLP activist. They insist that at least one registered shareholder appears to be a public servant.
The director of the company has apparently stated in social media that the company is one of 20 similar companies that are employing Future Job Strategy trainees. This was also highlighted in the The New People.
The Opposition has questioned whether the company is owned by private individuals for their own benefit or are the shares held by registered shareholders for the benefit of the Government of Gibraltar? They also question whether the company is Government owned, with shareholding held by public servants as nominees for the Government.
Commenting on the matter, Leader Daniel Feetham noted, ‘this really does raise some serious questions relating to good governance. We would like to know whether this is an isolated example or just the tip of an iceberg.
For some time I have asked questions in Parliament about newly-incorporated companies that have the benefit of public contracts and subsidised labour from the Future Job Strategy, to which the Minister responsible has been less than forthright in his answers.
The construction sector has been going through some difficult times during the last year or so. Despite this, the number of construction companies or employers in the construction sector is up from 582 in July 2012 to 646 in December 2012 and yet, the number of employees in the sector is down from 3,264 to 2,394 in the same period. We do not know whether there are other start-up companies with arrangements similar to ‘Construction and Maintenance Company Limited’. To the extent that the Government says that there is only one such company, they should explain why it is that this particular company has been structured in this particular way.’
