PL gives auditor general information on power station tender winner BWSE

Muscat. Pat

Nov 29th 2009, 09:16

I wonder why BWSE has had tendering process problems in many non EU countries; Russia, Phillipines, Malaysia. Are the present allegations simply one off, or are they part of a culture endorsed by Mitsui ? And why did Misui choose Malta ? Is it because Malta has third world business and political ethics, therefore falls into a pattern that allows to have Mitsui win tenders at all costs?
It is no wonder that Malta is fast losing its "clean and political business" credibility and is fast accelerating at an exponential and prodigious rate, to the last place of "Transparency International"; an other pearl in the necklace of achievments for Dr Gonzi!

A. Borg

Nov 28th 2009, 16:33

Let's say that if the BWSC was corrupt in the PAST, their involvement in Malta is SURELY corrupt according to Joseph Muscat, Evarist Bartolo and the rest of the PL herdsmen.... with this same argument of these 2 "honourable persons", this means that if Joseph Muscat was anti-European Union in the past, and that Evarist Bartolo removed stipends, it surely means that when they will be in government, one will be against Europe again (the MEP salary was comfortable at one point imma) and the other will be against Stipends against... I am using their same argument of the past.....

PL always says... the past is the past (to make us forget what they did) and let's look at the future.... so why are they questioning the past of BWSC? And their past which occured in other countries (not here!!)..

Poor guys... as Evarist indeed said.... "Aktar ma l-affarijiet jinbidlu... aktar l-affarijiet jibqghu l-istess".... Evarist.... XEJ MA INBIDEL.... Nsomma Varist... same as the MCAST story! Tfajt it-tajn.... hlejt il hin.... u ghalxiex??? Ghax xej ma nbidel!!

Joseph Borg

Nov 28th 2009, 12:03

@PN fanatics

Are you brainwashed up to the point that you now don't mind where YOUR money is going? I mean, I imagine you pay taxes as I do. Would you rather try saving Gonzi's face in this too?!? My God, this is unbelievable!

E.Formosa

Nov 28th 2009, 10:59

Dr Muscat said that internal company documents showed that senior BWSE officials had spent millions on bribes for the company to win contracts in countries such as the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Bahamas. Thank you Dr Muscat. Serrahtli rasi li Malta mhix imdahhla. Mn'Alla kont int ghax kont nibqa nkwetat.

P.Cassar

Nov 28th 2009, 09:34

@ PN Apologists

You are so confused that you are mixing things up completely. On second thoughts Pn always does this to confuse minds.

This saga has been going on for months now but most pn apologiss pretend not to know.
IT WAS JOSEPH NOT AUSTIN WHO CALLED IN THE AUDITOR. What happened elsewhere, on many occasions, surely concerns us if it is the same company because we are paying whatever comes our way.

@E Vella
Please do not try to project your confused mind on us. IT WAS THE PN GOVT THAT REQUISITIONED THE HOUSE, YOU REFER TO, IN 1973 AND NEVER RETURNED IT TO ITS RIGHTFUL OWNER, NOT EVEN WHEN IT WAS REALISED THAT IT WAS NOT NEEDED.
Please do to try to fool around we have had enough of that from the PN.

Charles J. Buttigieg

Nov 28th 2009, 07:43

@Emanuel vella

Requisition orders in the 60s as well as in later years were the order of the day, unfair but very legal. The premises in question were requisitioned by a PN administration and remained unused for a number of years. That was unfair. The PL may have taken advantage of that situation and applied the letter of the law, instead of the spirit, to allocate the place to its own party. That was also unfair. But it was all legal and in the public’s domain. No I do not justify it but your accusation of a corrupt practice hasn’t got a leg to stand on.

Charles Galea

Nov 28th 2009, 07:42

Can the dossier be made public and see what was actually handed over to the Auditor General?

Charles J. Buttigieg

Nov 28th 2009, 07:18

@ J. Mifsud @ PN Apologists.

The events that preceded the contract award are known to you as they are known to all others who have an inkling of what is happening around us. Denying the general public’s perception is most difficult and none of you are any near to alienate the public from what we are suspecting.

Instead of repeating the course of events from the period prior to the award to date, I ask you a simple question – Had there been the late Labour Minister who was responsible for PAPB who awarded the same contract, to the same company, under exactly the same conditions would any one of you remains so smug? Please answer me if you can.

My final point.....when you call the Leader of the opposition Joey it sounds just like when the others refer to the Prime Minister as Wenzinu, it’s just childish and it just shows the poor level of the arguments.

William P Flynn

Nov 28th 2009, 07:14

These two gentlemen had better be convinced; in this clip they made these allegations outside parliament without parliamentary privilege against companies with very deep pockets.

Joe Portelli

Nov 28th 2009, 05:41

The fact that in these countries business is done that way with all large overseas contracts does not make a company corrupt - not even in the country where the practise is common.

Allegations recently even mentioned British Aerospace and UK prime minister stopped the enquiry by the serious fraud squad. The allegation involved overseas country. BAE remain respective.

What matters is not what happens in other countries but what happens here.
What matters is that a fair and qualitative technical evaluation at the tender stage - showing the service promised is safe, high quality and reliable - the financial bid consideration after the selection of the best quality provider and the fincancial evaluation should the be able to detect if there is any intention of corruptions, as it is in this figure that the money for the bribes is included.

All large companies in the above mentioned countries have to pay someone at some level, it is not acceptable practice in Malta or EU countries and it does not follow the same companies adopt this practice in the EU where penalties exist.

Grow-up and pick a technical excuse not the weakness of other systems overseas.

Politics !

I. Cilia

Nov 27th 2009, 23:35

@ gauci cunningham

of course he has faith in the AG... very much so indeed..

labour mp's in the PAC request the AG to investigate.. that is fine

labour media comes out with an investigative series... forgot how many episodes.. basically putting the same information in a different way every other day.. so i ask yes he has faith in the AG..very much so again i say... so much faith that the LP media did its own investigationj

and then he goes to the AG...with information.. and as soon as he steps out of the door he gives a press release showing all the information to the press.. why did he go to the AG in the first place... send it via courier or let it come out on the labour media..

there is one principle in all laws gauci cunningham.. presumed innocent until proven guilty.. surely not with the LP

sorry but with such antics and theatrics call me joseph is looking what credibility he has managed to achieve so far..

Peter Mercieca

Nov 27th 2009, 23:15

@glanville
what a common error, when one quotes someone else article for our collective benefit try to make sure you add all the interesting bits. The end of the 2nd paragraph of the wikipedia article you so kindly directed us towards, ends with the following statement - I requote the words of A K Antony (ex-miniter of Kerala India) and the reason for Smart City India having failed - "Due to protest from opposition parties, he could not make it a reality." Perhaps there are more than one lesson we could learn from other countries experiences/misfortunes/distructive oppositions!

Alex Ellul

Nov 27th 2009, 22:59

Logically one can also arrive to the conlusion that anyone who is fiercly opposing the deal with BWSE is in cahoots with one of BWSE's competitors in this tender. But of course this would only be a logical conclusion, spin if used politically, but definitely not proven fact.

Albert Gauci Cunningham

Nov 27th 2009, 21:38

@E.Vella-what happened in 1973 is of little consequence to what is happening today!! If there was corruption in 1973, which I'm sure there was, this does not in any way reduce the serious charges these influential, Dutch journals are accusing this company of! Read my lips; two wrongs dont make a right and past, "labour" sins will not obliterate the fact that in the face of these very serious allegations the least the government could do is to clear the air and guarantee that what happened in so many other countries did not repeat itself here!!

@K.Frendo---if you read the article you'd see that 'chucking mud' was not of Joseph's doing but it was what influential media in Holland said!! I dont think they came up with these stories to satisfy Muscat's apetite!!

l.Cilia---your subtle comments do very little to answer the allegations brought up by the foreign media!! On the other hand accusing Muscat of not having faith in the institutions is rather baffling!! What is Muscat doing here if not handing information to the auditor precisely because he has full and complete trust in him??? Have you even read the article Mr.Cilia???

Emanuel vella

Nov 27th 2009, 18:18

IT'S RATHER A LITTLE BIT STRANGE THAT SUCH INFORMATION IS BEING GIVEN TO THE AUDITOR GENERAL EXACTLY TODAY. ONLY THIS MORNING WE HEARD THAT THE MALTESE TAX PAYER HAS TO PAY 75000 EUROS FOR THE CORRUPTION MADE BY THE PL IN 1973. MAYBE THIS IS ONLY A SIMPLE COINCIDENCE, OTHERWISE I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS BEING BAKED BEHIND ALL THIS KINDNESS TOWARDS THE MALTESE CITIZEN, IT'S NOT THEIR HABIT.

D. Dimech

Nov 27th 2009, 18:00

Jigifieri skond intkom dak li qed jghid il-PL huwa kollu gideb? U hallina naqra minnkom u ifthu ghanejkom...

John A. Zammit

Nov 27th 2009, 17:28

Being old gives you the benefit to look back and come to the conclusion that history does really repeat itself. It seems that we are going to have a re-enactment of John Poulson and the Gozo Hospital contract of the sixties: there too many similarities already!

eric saliba

Nov 27th 2009, 16:00

@ k frendo and j mifsud. take off your blinkers. the investigation being carried out 'at the request of the minister' only came about after information given in parliament and in various newspaper articles by evarist bartolo.
after all the 4 million euro commission plus the added expenses we will be incuring in the future will come out of our taxes.
iva il-PL qatt ma' jaghmel xejn tajjeb ghalikom??

b.glanville

Nov 27th 2009, 15:55

If you think that s amazing just check out this wikipedia article on Smart City Kochi hehe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SmartCity,_Kochi

The government has a funny choice of business partners!

A. Mizzi

Nov 27th 2009, 15:53

@J. Mifsud

It should ,atleast , serve as an EYEOPENER, especially when the administration of the country is turning a BLIND EYE to such goings on under the excuse of unending investigations after the act is done.

john borg

Nov 27th 2009, 15:49

What a worried look Evarist Bartolo has on his face. It seems he's not convinced of the allegations being made by his leader!

J Martinelli

Nov 27th 2009, 15:49

More unsubstantiated allegations, this time, in matters in which Malta is not the least bit concerned!

The best thing the LP can do is to eastablish its own bureaus in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bahamas, Russia, Malaysia, Korea, Jordan and Qatar.

I. Cilia

Nov 27th 2009, 15:48

i sometimes wonder why the PL is trying to do...

primarily why is it trying to influence an independent investigation by the AG. It has used its media to force down people's throats the fact that there has been corruption..

It has managed to have a copy of internal documents of communications between this middleman and his company.. it knows how much commission this person is going to get paid, and that it has already been paid in full...
frankly to me it seems rather dodgy.. it is not like this middleman hosts his conversations on facebook... or makes public his revenues.. seems that these have been gained through illegal means...

and also such insistence and meddling and interfering seems to point out that dear joseph and evarist have a hidden agenda that goes beyond making austing gatt look funny...

if you want to be credible dear joseph, best to let the investigation run its course because to me it seems that you do not have faith in institutions and offices that have been elected by a representative majority of 2/3 of elected representatives, when you have never even been elected..

John Micallef

Nov 27th 2009, 15:47

Bhal dak li qallek sur Mifsud, il- flus f'korruzjoni mhux mit-taxxi tieghek ukoll hergin!!

Nehhu l-kapestru u ahsbu ghal raskom hbieb.

'Hanzir taqtghalu denbu hanzir jibqa'

John Micallef 209, Tax slave

James Grech

Nov 27th 2009, 15:45

@J. Mifsud
It is already a well known fact that there was a person who acted as an intermediary and got paid a seemingly 4% amount. Would an intelligent human being go into a deal with someone who is well known to bribe its way into contracts? Furthermore would an intelligent human being choose to go into a contract with a company who is selling next to old technology, which creates such a large amount of toxic waste, for which it is not yet known how this is going to be catered for? Can you understand my point here Mr Mifsud?

K Frendo

Nov 27th 2009, 15:42

How typical of a PL spin doctor. To chuck mud without substantiating anything and giving the semblance of guilt by association - THIS is the new way of doing politics!!!

J. Mifsud

Nov 27th 2009, 15:36

Mr Muscat this does not mean that they did the same in Malta! What happened years ago in other countries is not a prove that is happening in Malta!
Show the real facts and not the speculations Joe!!

A,. Mizzi

Nov 27th 2009, 15:27

The first sign of CORRUPTION in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means.

Georges Bernanos 1888-1948, French Novelist, Political Writer