The Infrastructure Ministry this afternoon welcomed confirmation by the office of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that he had indeed tried to phone Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi in connection with the power station contract.

Referring to a story carried today in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz ( http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101207/local/power-station-olmerts-purpose-was-to-warn-gonzi-israeli-newspaper ) and reproduced in timesofmalta.com, minister Austin Gatt said said Mr Olmert's admission totally confirmed what he stated in the Public Accounts Committee last week in his regard.

According to the Israeli newspaper, Mr Olmert stated that he had phoned as a private citizen and not as an ex-Israeli Prime Minister.

"Minister Gatt does not doubt Mr Olmert's statement but considering that Mr Olmert had only resigned from his position as Israeli Prime Minister a few week before, and since Prime Minister Gonzi does not receive or take too many calls from Israeli private citizens, one may doubt whether or not the fact that he was an ex Prime Minister had no bearing at all on the matter," the ministry said in its statement.

The Israeli newspaper also stated that the Bateman bid was €40 million lower than the BWSC.

This, the Infrastructure Ministry said, was "an outright lie" and the Auditor General report clearly stated that the BWSC plant was the lowest bid received (actually by €280 million lower than Bateman).

The auditor's report also said that the BWSC plant produced the lowest cost per unit of electricity over the 10-year period prescribed in the tender; that all financial calculations made by Enemalta and the Contracts Committee were correct; that BWSC remained the cheapest even when sensitivity analysis on the price of fuel were performed; and that the financial calculations made by Bateman were all rejected by the Auditor General.