Opposition Leader Adrian Delia said that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has admitted that the Maltese and Gozitan people are being robbed.
Delia said that Muscat, 'with his back against the wall, admitted that the people are not being robbed of the amount the PN calculated through the Electrogas contract, that is €200 million a year, but robbed of €200 million every two years."
The National Audit Office recently concluded its investigation of matters relating to the contracts awarded to ElectroGas Malta Ltd by Enemalta Corporation. It found that energy purchased through the interconnector was cheaper, and that the departure of Gasol plc was in breach of the contractual obligations in force at the time.
The NAO said: "Immediately apparent is the difference in rates, with Delimara 4 costing, on average, €50.64/MWh more than the interconnector when excluding capital costs for the latter. In addition, the NAO identified scope for improvement in terms of when Enemalta decides to effect purchases through the interconnector and to what extent." The report also found other issues with the whole process, including a lack of due diligence during the Request for Proposals stage.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Delia said, with his hands tied behind his back, had to admit that the Maltese people are being robbed. He also said that the Prime Minister's calculations are wrong.
He said that Minister Konrad Mizzi has gone back into hiding. He also said that instead of sending the current energy Minister, Joe Mizzi, to speak to the media about the issue, he sent PL MP Robert Abela and Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg.
Delia highlighted points within the NAO report, saying that some candidates for the project were treated one-way, while others weren't.
Delia highlighted Konrad Mizzi's statements right after the NAO report, when he called it an example of best practice. Delia said that government through that statement is giving a guarantee that the people will continue to be robbed on other contracts. "We were robbed on the Vitals Global Healthcare contract. We were robbed on the American University of Malta contract."
"If the Prime Minister admits that we were robbed €100 million on this contract, that Robert Abela said all was done correctly, and that Minister Konrad Mizzi called it an example of best practice, then we will again be robbed on future contracts."
Delia highlighted that the Team Leader at one of the stages of the Request for Proposals stage was Nexia BT's Managing Director, "the same firm who helped Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri acquire their Panama companies." He also highlighted the 17 Black link, where the said company was listed as a target client of the two Panama companies. 17 Black was found to belong to Yorgen Fenech, a shareholder in Electrogas.
Delia said they need to see how "Mizzi and the others will return what they took from the people."
With €100 million a year, government could have helped the 7,000 people on the verge of poverty, on those needing social housing, and those who are in need of medication who do not receive it freely currently from government.
from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2Q4Kc21
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