Labour says ‘misleading’ media campaign cost taxpayers €40,000

The Labour Party accused the government of squandering taxpayers’ money by spending €40,000 on a “misleading” media campaign on the contentious Delimara power station extension.

Figures supplied by the Finance Ministry show the money went into a series of full-page press adverts, titled The Truth Prevails, to counteract allegations of irregularities made by Labour.

The adverts quoted excerpts from the question and answer sessions involving the Auditor General during two meetings of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee.

The ministry defended the advertising campaign saying it was intended “to inform the public about the main conclusions” of the PAC hearings and the Auditor General’s report about the BWSC contract.

Labour said the pricy adverts were misleading the public because they did not give the full picture and failed to mention the irregularities that went on.

It added the government kept squandering taxpayers’ money and had even increased the honoraria to MPs at a time when people were being asked to make sacrifices.

The €210 million Delimara extension contract, awarded to Danish company BWSC, has been a source of never-ending controversy. Following 11 months of investigation, a report by the Auditor General had flagged a number of shortcomings in the way the contract was awarded but did not find evidence of corruption.

Over the past year, Labour made serious allegations of corruption about how the tender was awarded. The PAC is looking into the matter.

The government has accused Labour of “sowing doubts” even after the Auditor General said that, had the National Audit Office found evidence of corruption in the Delimara power station extension contract, it would have referred the matter to the Police Commissioner.