Smoking out elusive truth

One would be surprised if, in the cathedral of his conscience, the Prime Minister did not have niggling doubts about the way he has allowed the BWSC affair in the Delimara power station extension contract to be handled.

If he did not have any before the meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last Tuesday, what was said there by the officials of the National Audit Office (NAO) must have sowed some. Among other things the Auditor General’s observation that they saw smoke but did not find the fire was damning.

The NAO does not have the power and the means to look for hard, conclusive evidence of corruption, as do the police, NAO officials told the PAC. They confirmed that Joseph Mizzi, agent for BWSC, which was awarded the extension contract, had not put at their disposal all e-mails exchanged between himself and BWSC from November 2005 and February 2009.

Asked whether NAO had taken possession of Mizzi’s personal computer and hard disk to access the e-mail exchange between Mizzi and BWSC, the officials said that as Mizzi was not a public employee, they could not do so. Only the police could have done this.

The NAO confirmed that Mizzi had not cooperated in the investigation by the Auditor General. His e-mails between February 2005 and November 2005 were given to the NAO by the Opposition, after they were recovered from Mizzi’s personal computer. Mizzi had deleted these e-mails before he left his job at ASL (following which BWSC retained him – and not the ASL company – as their agent).

The e-mails, recovered through the Opposition’s ferreting, revealed that, even before the tender was issued, Mizzi was effectively telling BWSC they would win the contract through his contacts with Enemalta and the political hierarchy, Labour MP EvaristBartolo pointed out at the PAC meeting. Within four years, environmental regulations were changed; government policy on energy generation was changed; and the tender specifications were changed, all in favour of BWSC.

The Auditor General confirmed to the PAC that top people within Enemalta and the Department of Contracts did not cooperate fully in the inquiry. Nor had BWSC top officials. He repeated that though he had found no “hard evidence of corruption”, his office had seen many coincidences. “There was smoke but no fire was found”, he said.

Austin Gatt said it was the politicians who had created the smoke, an opinion which was a clear attempt at spin. For the auditor was referring to what had – orhad not – gone on during hisinvestigation.

In reply to a question by Labour MP Helena Dalli, the auditor mentioned a number of issues, which he called ‘coincidences’.

He said Enemalta always held its meetings with BWSC after having met the other bidders. Consultancy firm Lehmayer initially offered its services and was turned down, then Enemalta itself asked for its services a month later.

The Auditor General said lackof cooperation was most evident from BWSC agent Mizzi. He had notbeen forthcoming about his meetings with BWSC, and had refusedto answer questions. Bartolo noted the NAO had said that the tendering procedure should have been stopped when the emissionthresholds were changed.

The deeper background to Tuesday’s PAC meeting has a bearing on how this commercial-political affair is developing, with tactical positioning hindering the firm emergence of the elusive truth.

Some weeks ago, the four-member Nationalist majority on the PAC voted against calling witnesses to give evidence on the extension contract awarded to BWSC, a Danish company.

The listed witnesses included people currently or formerly in top government positions. Gatt, one of the four members, was the minister responsible for energy during the tendering process. Speaker Michael Frendo ruled that a majority vote could overturn a decision by the PAC chairman, who sets the agenda, thereby undermining the PAC which traditionally scrutinises the operations of the executive government as far as possible on a non-partisan basis.

Can there be smoke without fire? Can smoke get in the way of the truth? Unless important witnesses who zipped their mouth shut in front of the Auditor General are carefully quizzed by the PAC, the truth will remain a mystery. Gatt’s comment to the media that some witnesses may want tobe careful not to incriminate themselves speaks volumes.

It is hard to believe that the Nationalist PAC members are acting under Lawrence Gonzi’s and the Cabinet’s instructions, which seem tantamount to blocking tactics. The government is not covering itself with credibility. A mid-week statement by former minister Jesmond Mugliett adds a twist to the tale.

Mugliett said on One TV that when he was in Cabinet it had approved a strategy on the use of gas. The Delimara extension was to be powered by gas. He said he was still a minister when someone changed the strategy outside Cabinet.

That is a loaded statement which the Prime Minister, primus inter pares in the Cabinet, needs to explain. One should presume that what the Cabinet resolves only the Cabinet could dissolve. So what went on?