Gonzi leaves door ajar for more witnesses

The evidence by the Auditor General on the power station extension contract before the Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday could be followed by more witnesses if there were points that still begged replies, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.

He refused to commit himself on whether the government representatives on the PAC would object to this too, however.

The committee is expected to hear Auditor General Anthony Mifsud on his investigations into the contentious BWSC power station extension.

The hearing follows two meetings which were called off when government MPs objected to the summoning of witnesses who would have already been heard by the Auditor during his year-long investigation into the awarding of the extension contract to Danish firm BWSC.

“The outcome of this exercise could be that the PAC would need to summon other witnesses and then we would take it from there. If after listening to the Auditor there are still things that needed to be made clearer, then we will see,” Dr Gonzi said.

But would the government MPs oppose to more witnesses being summoned at that point?

“What I will surely oppose is direct or indirect undermining of the Auditor,” he said.

“We should ask ourselves: Did we waste 18 months waiting for this report and did the Auditor conduct his investigation for nothing? If yes is the answer, then we should close down the Auditor’s office and leave it up to the PAC to investigate cases. If we believe the Auditor did a good job but there are things which need to be cleared, we can listen to the Auditor and then if there are witnesses who need to be summoned we will look into that situation and decide.”

Pressed further on whether the government would object to witnesses after having heard the Auditor testify, Dr Gonzi said:

“I will not commit myself. First, I have to convince myself that more evidence is required. Whether this evidence will be heard in the PAC or by the Auditor is a different issue. Fishing expeditions are absolutely not acceptable... What I am saying is that it is the attitude of the opposition that is undermining this office. It is a vote of no confidence in the Auditor. There are no two ways about it.”

The Labour Party, however, insisted it had no intention of undermining the Auditor but was simply after pursing a series of key witnesses who the Auditor himself admitted did not cooperate with him during investigations.

When contacted, PAC chairman Charles Mangion acknowledged there was a “different twist” to Dr Gonzi’s position yesterday over that expressed by Investments Minister Austin Gatt when the issue blew up in Parliament last month.

However, he said he would still not be happy with the situation because a precedent had been set and the powers of the PAC to scrutinise the Executive had been weakened, chipping away at the democratic process of having a balance of power between the Executive and Parliament.

“We will see what happens at Tuesday’s meeting and then take it from there,” he said.