Updated: Muscat hopes those asked to testify before PAC would do so

Updated - Adds reactions by the Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt - Labour leader Joseph Muscat said today that he hoped, in the interests of transparency and accountability, that the persons requested to give evidence on the power station extension contract before a parliamentary committee this week, would do so.

Speaking this morning, he said that among those who the committee had asked to give evidence were BWSC local agent Joe Mizzi, who appeared to have been very forgetful when he appeared before the Auditor General, former Enemalta chairman Alex Tranter, who coincidentally also worked for the contractor who was awarded the power station civil works contract, and David Spiteri Gingell, the former Enemalta CEO who also headed one of the contract evaluation committees and, coincidentally, had since also worked as a consultant for the same contractor.

Dr Muscat, who was speaking at a political conference, said that Public Accounts Committee chairman Charles Mangion had been 'very correct' in the way he presided over the PAC meeting last week when he set out the agenda and procedures for the discussion on the power station contract.

The government members of the committee walked out of the committee meeting, protesting that they first learned of the planned agenda from the Labour radio station.

Dr Muscat said it was very frequent that the Opposition learned of matters coming up before the House through the media.

One had to wonder, or perhaps not wonder at all, what the government was scared of in the BWSC issue, and who is was defending, Dr Muscat said.

He pointed out that in the PAC meeting last week, one of the governemnt members was Charlo' Bonnici, who, coincidentally again, worked for the contractor awarded the civil works contract.

In democratic countries, Dr Muscat said, all those who were required to give evidence before parliamentary committees took the matter very serious, and he hoped the same would be the case in Malta, in the interests of transparency.

The debate on the power station contract features on the agenda of the PAC, published on the parliamentary website. It says that the agenda was published "without prejudice to ruling requested from Speaker, should this ruling affect the agenda."

Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt had requested ruling from the Speaker on the procedure followed in the PAC on Wednesday, including the fact that the meeting had continued when, he said, it did not have a quorum. He insisted that the ruling should come before the agenda.

Speaking this morning, Dr Gatt said the government MPs had walked out of the PAC meeting because the chairman, Charles Mangion had refused to allow a vote.

He would have had no difficulty to discuss the planned procedure, he said, but could not accept a situation where MPs got to learn what would happen through the radio, and they were even refused a request for a vote. He said the governemnt MPs would return to the PAC on the basis of the rulings requested from the Speaker.

MEPA TARIFFS

Later in his speech, Dr Muscat referred to new Mepa tariffs, which he said applied both for contractors and ordinary people, and said the Opposition would move a private members' motion for the tariffs to be repealed.

In this way, he said, the Opposition would show that it was on the side of the people.

Reacting in a speech elsewhere, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said the Opposition was ignoring the Mepa reform and did not want to change anything. It also wanted the people to continue subsidising Mepa to the tune of €7 million annually.