A Dutch firm of energy consultants, which had advised the Labour Party over its energy proposals before the last election, was recently awarded a government contract by direct order.

DNV Kema was contracted to help organise an energy conference in Malta held last month, a spokesman for Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi confirmed.

However, asked to explain why the contract was awarded directly and without a call for tenders, the ministry failed to reply.

“The ministry engaged DNV Kema to support policy formulation as part of the organisation of the Mediterranean conference that was held in Malta recently,” the spokesman said.

“This conference brought together ministers, government representatives, policy makers and energy stakeholders to address issues relating to European energy security of supply.”

DNV Kema was paid €18,000 including VAT for its services.

It is not known what part of the conference it was engaged on and what type of resources it dedicated to the assignment.

Before the last election, a consultant from the firm had addressed a press conference together with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi endorsing Labour’s plans to build a LNG-fired power station in order to reduce electricity tariffs.

At the time, DNV Kema was asked by this newspaper to state if it was being paid by Labour for the consultancy and how much it was charging, but a spokesman gave no details citing “confidentiality”.

Rolf van Stenus, global press officer DNV Kema, would only say that “the firm has indeed worked for the Labour party”. He refused to say whether the party had been charged, saying: “Customer information is confidential.”