The origins Tumas Fenech, then a police sergeant in
Hamrun, and his sons opened the
Easysell company in 1973, with a showroom in
Qormi, to import and sell furniture and household items. The company was registered with the considerable capital of 30,000
Maltese lira, and it was soon put under general hypothec, with an overdraft facility by the newly-nationalised
Bank of Valletta. Thanks to access to credit,
Easysell started operating as a speculator in the property market, signing various deals in the 1970s, including with people linked to the judiciary. Tumas Fenech could count on the support of then-minister
Lorry Sant The Portomaso land grab was contested by left-wing activists, including
Moviment Graffitti, who staged a hunger strike. The ensuing investigation by Ombudsman Joe Sammut reprimanded the government's failure “to use its negotiating powers to maximise the benefits to be derived from the deal”. Legislation was later amended, obliging the government to seek the Parliament's consent before selling public land for private interests.
Foray into public transport From July 2011 until 2014, Tumas Group was minority shareholder (33%), together with
Arriva, of a ten-year concession to operate all scheduled bus services on
Malta and
Gozo. Following years of losses, on 1 January 2014 Arriva ceased operations in Malta, with the services nationalised by the government as
Malta Public Transport.
Expansion in the energy sector The Group's turnover for 2011 was in excess of €112 million. After 2013, with the Labour government led by
Joseph Muscat, the Tumas group (at that point led by Tumas' son George Fenech and grandson
Yorgen Fenech) expanded in the energy sector. Electrogas was contracted to sell electricity and LNG to Enemalta for 18 years, started in 2015. The government provided Electrogas with an indefinite government guarantee, committing to cover its losses in case of failure to make a profit. however Electrogas recorded continued unexplained losses, with -€23 million in 2017.
Daphne Caruana Galizia was investigating the Electrogas scheme when she was murdered on 16 October 2017. She was also investigating an unknown company named 17 Black. It was later learned that 17 Black was a Dubai-based company owned by Mr. Fenech which had made plans to pay millions to officials in Muscat's government. The Auditor General's enquiry into the 2013 tender concluded that the tender was a “premeditated” effort to award the contract to Electrogas and that Electrogas' electricity price was significantly higher than that bought over the interconnector.
Yorgen Fenech resigned from director of Tumas Group and of
Electrogas in 2019. His uncle Ray Fenech took over control of the group. On 25 November 2019 Tumas Group said that allegations linking Fenech to the murder of
Daphne Caruana Galizia were "alien to the Tumas Group's values". == References ==