Danish police letter 'does not prove anything' - PL

The report referred to by the government this morning in the case of the company given the tender for the new power station was a letter from a police assessor informing the company that one case had been closed and no criminal action would be taken about it, the PL said.

Labour leader Joseph Muscat yesterday presented the auditor general with investigations carried out by a Danish newspaper which concluded that the company had used bribery to win contracts abroad.

Dr Gatt asked the company to explain the situation to the Auditor General, the company denied the allegation and sent the minister a copy of a letter from the Danish police saying that it was unlikely that a criminal offence had been committed.

The PL said in a statement the assessor did not say whether there had been corruption but that there was probably no cause for action under Danish law.

The party noted that although the government advocated the independence of its companies in certain instances, in this case it was the ministry and not Enemalta, which got directly involved in the case.

It also seemed that the minister had appointed himself spokesman for the company when it already had an agent who was receiving a commission of €4 million.

It was clear that the letter sent by the minister yesterday was a coordinated attempt which reflected the government's panic.