Labour MP Luciano Busuttil. Photo: Darrin Zammit LupiLabour MP Luciano Busuttil denies that he represented at the same time both the bidder who won a contract and the local council that issued the tender.
He is insisting the bidder who was awarded the contract was not his client at the time the tender was adjudicated.
The Appeals Court on Thursday ordered that Dr Busuttil be investigated for “serious allegations” that he had advised the Cospicua council to disqualify a bidder to favour his client.
The court also ordered that the judgment is sent to the Commission for the Administration of Justice, the Attorney General and the Director of Contracts to investigate the allegation.
It annulled the contract awarded and the adjudication process will now start again.
Sources close to the Office of the President, who chairs the commission, said yesterday an investigation into Dr Busuttil’s conduct would be opened.
The Chamber of Advocates would not comment.
“At this stage, we are not in a position to comment. It will be up to the commission to investigate and we will follow it closely,” a spokesman said.
It will be up to the commission to investigate
In a case instituted against the local council, bidder Saviour Mifsud and the Director of Contracts, WM Environment Ltd submitted Dr Busuttil advised the council to disqualify a bidder in favour of a client who was consequently awarded the tender (see box).
The court found that WM Environmental was disqualified from the adjudication process on Dr Busuttil’s legal advice. It noted that the unsuccessful bidder claimed that Dr Busuttil was also representing Mr Mifsud, who eventually won the tender.
Reacting, Dr Busuttil vehemently denied any conflict of interest and said: “At the time of the adjudication of the tender, Mr Mifsud was not a client of mine any longer.”
Mr Mifsud, he pointed out, had been his client until a few weeks before he advised the council.
Asked whether he felt he should have made this fact known to the council, Dr Busuttil insisted he had no obligation to do so “because [Mr Mifsud] was not my client any longer”.
Pressed to say whether he had ever contested the allegations during the appeal procedures that followed, Dr Busuttil said he had raised the point with the lawyer of the other party but it had not been minuted.
“Although the court had an obligation to order an investigation into this allegation, I think the fact that I am also an MP played a part,” he added.
Dr Busuttil said he was looking forward to the probe by the Commission for the Administration of Justice so he would be able to clear his name.
In a statement yesterday, the Nationalist Party challenged the Prime Minister to come clean and take the necessary steps on the charges made by the Court of Appeal. It said Joseph Muscat could not remain silent on such serious allegations against one of his MPs.
‘Blatant conflict’
What WM Environmental Ltd said in a letter presented in court...
“It is also very pertinent to note that the contracting authority reached its conclusions for adjudication of this tender on the basis of a report dated February, 13, 2014, which, in turn, was based on legal advice submitted by Dr Luciano Busuttil.
“In this regard, it transpires that Dr Luciano Busuttil is legal counsel to Saviour Mifsud, to whom this tender was adjudicated and, in fact, he is appearing as his lawyer in a lawsuit currently pending before the Court of Appeal (Superior Jurisdiction) in the names Mifsud Salvatore vs Sliema Local Council.
“It is evident that there is a blatant conflict of interest in this case, considering that our offer was rejected following legal advice provided by Dr Luciano Busuttil as clearly mentioned in the report dated February 13, 2014, whereas the offer submitted by Saviour Mifsud was adjudicated the tender.”