Contract 'must' be published - Mangion

The chairman of the Public Accounts Committee will ask for a copy of the controversial Delimara power station extension contract for it to be evaluated when the House committee starts analysing the Auditor General's report.

Labour Party spokesman for finance, Charles Mangion, who chairs the committee, said once the committee finished analysing the Shipyard's Fairmount contract, it would start discussing the Auditor's report.

Then, unless the government members on the committee presented a motion to keep the contract secret, it will be circulated as an ancillary document together with other relevant material.

Dr Mangion has also requested the contract to be tabled in the House of Representatives through a parliamentary question, following the government's refusal to make it public due to commercial sensitivity.

He said the contract was crucial to the discussion because everything revolved around it, so it did not make sense for it to be kept hidden.

Parliament will start discussing the controversial project on May 6, following the publication of the Auditor General's report which found no hard evidence of corruption but serious administrative shortcomings in the tendering process.

Labour has argued that since the project is being funded by taxpayers' money, the people had a right to know all the details. Once the contract is tabled in Parliament or submitted to the committee, it would be in the public domain.

However, the Nationalist Party has a majority of members on the committee, so if it passes a counter motion for the contract not to be published it would be likely to win.

Dr Mangion said that, despite the government's refusal so far, this did not necessarily mean it would also refuse to submit it to the committee.

"I think the committee will have a clear right to it," he said.

The Auditor General's report into the tendering process has led to a barrage of harsh criticism about the way the process was handled and raised questions regarding the lack of cooperation by key witnesses.

When contacted, the police said it was never "informed to investigate this case". Pushed to say whether the Police Commissioner felt it should look into the findings on its own initiative, no response was forthcoming.

The Auditor General was also asked whether he felt the contract should be published and a police investigation launched but the National Audit Office said it would be "imprudent on its part to submit any comments on the report which has now been submitted to Parliament".

Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry said the Auditor's report brought to light some "serious shortcomings" in the process of the contract.

It said it had confidence in all national authorities but the country could not afford risking that the public would have misgivings on the public procurement process.

"If this system is undermined, then the integrity of all public contracts will be brought into question. The country cannot afford to let this happen."

Equally worrying was the doubt emerging about whether the right decision had been taken with respect to the specifications and technicalities.

"The Auditor General's report casts doubt on the soundness of the decision to opt for a prototype combination. Malta relies on Enemalta and its power stations as its only source of electricity and, in this respect, one could not afford taking risks on the reliability of energy generation."

Asked whether the contract should be published despite commercial sensitivity, the Chamber said that, while there were possible sensitivities involved, measures should be sought to ensure full transparency to the public.

The Chamber said it firmly believed in the importance of transparency on such issues, together with clear lines of accountability for all officials involved in public procurement.

What was clear, however, was that the deficiencies in the public procurement system as highlighted in the Auditor's report must be addressed immediately and the public must be informed of whatever action was taken.

"This as a minimum must be done to assure everyone that the necessary remedial action has been taken," the Chamber said.