‘No regrets’ comment taken out of context – PN

The Prime Minister “did not want to state, nor did he say, that he had no regrets” over the controversial power station tender, the Nationalist Party clarified yesterday.

Lawrence Gonzi made the remark in an interview last Sunday with One News journalist Charlon Gouder on the Floriana granaries as part of the Nationalist Party’s Independence Day activities.

When asked if there was anything he would have done differently regarding the tender won by Danish company BWSC, Dr Gonzi said: “I regret nothing that happened and I would do everything in the same way, and I will tell you why...”.

Referring to this as a “partial quote”, a PN spokesman said the comments had been taken “totally out of context”. He said Dr Gonzi was only referring to the investigative process which took place after corruption allegations surfaced.

During the interview, Dr Gonzi stressed that when the allegations emerged he referred the matter to the Public Accounts Committee and told the Auditor General and Police Commissioner to investigate.

“The Prime Minister... stated that he would go through the same investigative procedure (again), going through the same stages... He would repeat all investigations, roping in the Parliamentary Committee, the Auditor General and the Police Commissioner,” a party spokesman said in reply to questions from The Sunday Times.

The spokesman added that during the interview Dr Gonzi made it clear he did not get involved in the awarding of the tender or the selection of the bidders, allowing the structures set up by law to do this.

“It is illogical to hold that the Prime Minister stated he would repeat something he did not do in the first place,” the spokesman said.

Asked if Dr Gonzi had any regrets over the whole BWSC affair, the spokesman said the Prime Minister’s main regret was the Opposition’s insistence of alleging corruption “without basis”.

The spokesman added: “It goes without saying that in hindsight, the process would have benefited had the issues pointed out by the Auditor General been addressed. And the lessons learned will inform future tendering processes.”

In a damning report last May, the Auditor General had noted serious administrative shortcomings.

“The Prime Minister does not regret having his administration subjected to the scrutiny of the Auditor General, the Police Commissioner, the Public Accounts Committee and the European Commission. The Prime Minister cannot regret the scrutiny of these institutions because it was successive Nationalist governments that have created these institutions as checks and balances for the government.”

Referring to comments made by the Auditor General that former Enemalta chairman Alex Tranter should have resigned due to a conflict of interest in the power station contract, the party spokesman said Dr Gonzi agreed that whoever might have a conflict should declare the interest and not involve himself in that process.

“The Prime Minister invited the Opposition several times to refer the matter to the police and if they did so, so far nothing has resulted. The Auditor General also stated that there was no ‘concrete evidence’ of corruption,” the PN concluded.