Dalli demands justice

Nationalist MP John Dalli yesterday demanded justice for all those who had been harmed by what turned out to be a fabricated report by a private investigator into the way the contract for the medical equipment at Mater Dei Hospital was awarded. He said the report was commissioned by one of the bidding companies, Simed, which was prepared to pay Lm750,000 for it if it eventually landed the contract.

The former finance minister, speaking on the last day of the budget debate in Parliament, said that he had never given in to blackmail, whether it was by businessmen or politicians.

Unfortunately, in 18 years of service as minister he had been subjected to repeated attacks and mud-slinging by the opposition which ignored denials and kept up its attacks even after he won 18 libel cases. It was an attitude which had institutionalised political blackmail where people with financial interests threatened politicians that they would smear them with allegations if they did not get their way. All they needed to do was to go to the opposition which, without regard to the vested interests of those giving it information, unleashed a mud-slinging campaign which was repeated by the media.

It had now become the fashion for those who did not win some contract to use this tactic to influence the decision taken.

Mr Dalli said he never surrendered to such pressures, even recently when the contract for the medical equipment of Mater Dei Hospital was awarded. One of the bidding companies, Simed, had gone to Dutch officials for help and they tried to put pressure on the Maltese government. It also went to the opposition and it too tried to put pressure, through press conferences, articles and speeches all repeating this company's arguments. The company even went so far as to commission a private investigator to draw up a report to prove its argument. The company was prepared to pay as much as Lm750,000 if it eventually won the contract.

The report was eventually drawn up but, according to the newspapers, it had now resulted that the person who drew it up had admitted that it was all invented.

This report, Mr Dalli said, had been very damaging and it was now important that justice was done with everybody.

In his speech Mr Dalli spoke on various aspects of the budget. Last year's budget, he said, had seen a number of important measures to improve the government's financial situation including the raising of VAT to 18 per cent, which would yield Lm25 million in government revenue next year, thus reducing the deficit.

It had also been planned that during the current year the parameters of a pension and health service reform would be set and the reforms would be launched. For these were the two sectors where action was needed if government spending was really to be brought in check.

In the health sector, one needed not just to reduce waste and theft, but also define what was life saving and what was life enhancing. Services for the former should remain free for taxpayers while there should be part or full payment for the latter.

The government, Mr Dalli said, would be able to spend less only when the people expected less from it.

Mr Dalli said Opposition Leader Alfred Sant had shot himself in the foot and harmed his party with his arguments on depreciating the lira. But his remarks were also harming the country by instilling uncertainty.

The campaign against his arguments was also harmful because that too fuelled uncertainty.

The value of the lira was an important subject, especially now that Malta would soon fix the exchange rate value of the lira against the euro prior to joining the exchange rate mechanism. Once that rate was fixed, it could not be changed, and it was therefore useless for Dr Sant to argue that a Labour government would depreciate the lira.

Many of those who were participating in this argument did not know how the value of the lira was established. The lira fluctuated according to its exchange rate peg. Since 2002 it had depreciated by nine per cent against the euro and appreciated by 40 per cent against the dollar.

The value of the lira was the subject of profound study by the Central Bank, which was responsible for monetary policy, and the argument should be left there. The House could, however, exercise the facility already available to it to hold talks with the Governor of the Central Bank every six months.

Turning to the surcharge on electricity, Mr Dalli repeated the argument he made on Tuesday that Enemalta needed permanent solutions for its problems, not temporary ones such as the surcharge was.

What would happen once the surcharge was removed? Enemalta would continue to register losses and the government would eventually have to raise the power tariffs. Why go through this martyrdom twice when the tariffs could have been raised in the first place as Enemalta's costs rose because of VAT and the purchase of better quality fuel? He felt that the tariffs should be adjusted periodically as international oil prices fluctuated.

On competitiveness, Mr Dalli said Malta needed to focus on those goods and services it would produce or provide with high quality and at a competitive price. Tourism too needed to focus on Malta's unique historical and cultural attractions to attract better quality tourists.

And it was important that those involved in economic activity were not hindered by undue bureaucracy. They should not be burdened with measures or standards which competitors were not made to carry.

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority, Mr Dalli said, had because a bureaucratic monster. It was good to protect the environment but it was wrong that regional regulations (local plans) had not been issued yet and policies had not been updated. It was wrong that investors had to go from one layer of scrutiny to another and it was no wonder that Maltese entrepreneurs were being impressed by the levels of service abroad and were taking their investments there, to Malta's detriment.

There was clearly an urgent need to restructure Mepa with updated policies and a proactive executive which understood clients' needs.

Care should also be taken to ensure that EU bureaucracy did not harm Malta. Heads of department should not execute Brussels directives to the letter in a way which hurt national interests.

Mr Dalli referred to the reduction of workers' leave. This measure deserved support. Nonetheless, rather than the system chosen by the government it would have been better to have had a definitive reduction of public holidays, not least to avoid repeated changes of legislation. He hoped that employers would not now come up with creative clauses in collective agreements to undo what the government strove to achieve.

He also insisted that the government and the social partners should continue their efforts to agree on a social pact which was beneficial for the government, employers and workers.

Mr Dalli referred to the government's plans to sell its shareholding in Bank of Valletta. He said that Malta had good credentials in the international financial sector and it therefore did not need the presence of another large international bank such as HSBC.

Bank of Valletta should retain its Maltese vocation and the objective of the government's sale of shares should be to attract a partner which would enable the bank to offer new services and expand overseas. Bank of Valletta, however, should not be assimilated in another bank and should retain its Maltese characteristics.

Mr Dalli also referred to the opposition's calls for the government to adopt an accruals accounting system. The process for the adoption of such a system started years ago and hundreds of staff had been trained for it, he said. He hoped the new system would be introduced from next year, as planned. But it was worth pointing out that when the introduction of this system was first mentioned, the opposition had been strongly against it, claiming it would enable the government to play about with figures.