Without knowing what parts of the Henley & Partners contracts the government blacked out, the House Public Accounts Committee was being hindered in its efforts to examine their value for money, Opposition MP Claudio Grech said yesterday.

There was also no reason why the country’s highest institution should not have access to the request for proposals, which had been available at a fee to all three bidders, without recourse to the Accountant General, he said.

Justice Minister Owen Bonnici defended the government’s decision to black out 14 clauses of the 206, saying competing countries should not know the details of the two H&P contracts.

Two of the 14 had not even been completely obliterated.

He said the clauses were commercially sensitive and others describing internal flow processes could affect the marketability of the programme, greatly facilitating the lives of competitors, with a template handed to them on a silver platter.

Committee chairman Tonio Fenech (PN) said that in his oft-quoted ruling Mr Speaker had not left it up to the government but himself to decide on necessary safeguards.

There was also no reason why the country’s highest institution should not have access to the request for proposals

The Opposition had no intention of letting any cat out of the bag but, having seen only what the government had been prepared to show, Mr Fenech could not guide the committee. It would have been much better if the government had agreed to a meeting with the Speaker and Mr Fenech to decide on the commercial nature of the clauses blacked out.

Dr Bonnici countered that in his ruling the Speaker had said it was the PAC that had to decide by majority vote.

PN Deputy Leader Mario de Marco said the committee’s majority should not be allowed to put spokes in the Opposition’s wheels.

Mr Fenech said things had now come to a point of principle on future workings of the PAC. It was not up to the committee to meddle with the Speaker’s ruling, which had been very clear on procedures. He said he would ask the Speaker to define the procedure to be followed.

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