The investigation into the Fairmount ships-conversion contract, said to have cost the Malta Shipyards millions of euros in losses, has not yet been concluded despite the government's declaration five months ago that the probe was at "an advanced stage".

When contacted, the Infrastructure Ministry would not say why the investigation has still not been concluded or when it would be wrapped up, pointing to the fact that it is being carried out by independent auditors.

Malta Shipyards too declined to answer any questions about the matter put to them by The Times.

The investigation is being conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was commissioned by the 'yards' management last December following a request by then Investments Minister Austin Gatt.

When contacted, the auditing firm said they were not in a position to discuss the details of their clients' affairs with any third parties.

Malta Shipyards management does not know when the investigation will be over or how long it will take, The Times has learnt.

The contract, which was secured in June 2006, was initially hailed by the government as a step forward in making the 'yards viable by 2008.

However, early last year it came under fire from the General Workers' Union, which claimed the shipyards stood to lose as much as €40 million from the contract, itself worth about €60 million, and denounced it as a serious case of mismanagement.

Last May, when the investigation was made public, Dr Gatt acknowledged that the contract had placed the shipyards in a "disadvantageous contractual and legal position" but said the union's €40 million estimate was exaggerated and that part of the problem was low productivity.

Following the government's announcement in June that it would be privatising the shipyards, the union once again brought up the question of the Fairmount contract, which involved the conversion of two barges into heavy lift ships.

There was no mention of the issue last Friday when the government and the union announced they had agreed on the way forward regarding privatisation following three weeks of mediated talks.

GWU general secretary Tony Zarb would not comment when asked if the union would stick to its demand that the findings of the investigation should be made public before the finalisation of the privatisation process. "We cannot comment at this time," was the only thing Mr Zarb would say.

A spokesman for the Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications, which is responsible for Malta Shipyards, said the report would be made public once it was completed and discussed by the shipyard's board.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.