The owners of Cafe' Premier were allowed to take furniture and plant worth €288,000 from their premises even though basic practice on liquidation provided that owners must use all their assets to pay of some of their debts, Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi told Parliament this evening.
He said the most recent audited accounts of Cities Entertainment, dated December 31, 2012 started with a disclaimer by the auditor that the audit evidence was not sufficient.
So how could the government reach a deal with this company, without seeking the audited accounts for 2013?
The deal between the government and Cities Entertainment saw the government pay €4.2m for the premises, yet the furniture and fittings, worth €288,000 were to be retained by the owners. This, Dr Azzopardi, was scandalous.
The Cafe Premier issue was far from being a mistake. The haste with which it was concluded was in contrast with, say, the impeachment proceedings against Judge Farrugia Sacco.
It was no mistake that the prime minister - who was involved up to his eyeballs - left out the Director of Lands from the dealings or that the prime minister had used his private e-mail.
It was no mistake that the government had given up the court cases it had instituted to recover the rents of €300,000 due from Cafe Premier.
People were sent to prison for not paying VAT, yet this government had waived €227,000 due in VAT and an electricity bill of €130,000.
Worse than this, a private investor, Anglo Xuereb had in writing shown an interest in the Cafe Premier, but the government preferred to use taxpayers' money instead.
To make matters worse, the government even paid a €210,000 commission. Where did anyone pay a commission to the seller? How could this be explained?
The Nationalist MP also spoke on Enemalta's hedging and the involvement of Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi.
He said the Labour opposition in the past had tried to pin down then minister Austin Gatt, accusing him of all sorts of things, simply because he directed Enemalta to seek the lowest prices. Dr Gatt had not told the corporation where to procure oil from, which was in stark contrast with current minister Konrad Mizzi, who told Enemalta where to buy oil from - Socar - and as a result, €14 million were lost. Before that, Enemalta was making a profit on its hedges.
All this belied Labour's promise of good governance, Dr Azzopardi said.
He also pointed out that Socar was a big company but also one which attracted many stories on alleged corruption.
Dr Azzopardi made his remarks during the Bill on the Budget Measures Implementation Bill. He said the government was trying to cut down the number of court cases by discouraging the people not to go to court. In pursuit of this purpose, court costs had increased across the board, except for the Family Court. It now cost between €150-200 more to file an application before the Magistrates' Court.