A court has been asked to postpone judgment in an ongoing case regarding the granting of a new casino licence until it hears the testimony of Judge Geoffrey Valenzia, who chaired a technical committee evaluating the bids.

In an urgent application filed yesterday, Dragonara Gaming Ltd – which is contesting the government’s decision to name Eden Leisure as the preferred bidder – claimed that a Nationalist Party media journalist has declared under oath that he has seen the final Valenzia report recommending the licence should be given to Dragonara.

According to the company, this declaration puts into question the statements made in court by Privatisation Unit chairman Manuel Camilleri.

Mr Camilleri on Monday testified that he had received orders from Economy Minister Chris Cardona to dissolve the technical committee halfway through the evaluation process.

He said that since he obeyed the instructions, the Valenzia Committee was not able to produce a final report.

However, according to Dragonara, Nationalist journalist Joe Mikallef has now declared under oath (declaration presented to court) that he had seen a copy of the final Valenzia report, which recommended that Dragonara Gaming had the best proposal.

Dragonara said that, due to these revelations, the court should wait for Judge Valenzia to return from abroad on Friday and hear his testimony before judgment. Dragonara Gaming took the matter to court after it objected to the government’s decision to name Eden Leisure as the preferred bidder.

It is claiming that it made a substantial higher financial offer than Eden’s and that the whole process is vitiated.

However, the government is insisting that Eden Leisure’s bid is superior in terms of overall economic value and that the financial offer was just one criterion in the evaluation process.