The shortcomings highlighted in two damning reports by the Auditor General were simply “procedural mistakes” made by a young government eager to get things done, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said yesterday.

The government might have acted in haste on certain matters but it was only because it wanted to avoid burdensome bureaucratic procedures, Dr Muscat said at a press conference marking the Labour Party’s two years in government.

In a new report on Monday, the Auditor General again expressed “reservations” over how Enemalta hedged oil consignments worth millions of euros from the State-owned Socar company of Azerbaijan following “ministerial direction”.

It follows hot on the heels of the Café Premier report, in which the Auditor General listed a series of shortcomings in the way the €4.2 million deal to buy back the public lease of the property was handled. A lack of transparency and poor governance were flagged.

“The Auditor General pointed out there were procedures to be followed and he was right to do so. We are a young government. Perhaps in our eagerness to get things done, we acted to avoid bureaucratic delays,” Dr Muscat said, adding that it was time to revise procedures.

When asked whether those mistakes would be addressed in the Café Premier case by withholding remaining the remaining payments, Dr Muscat replied: “We’ve said whatever we’ve had to say on the Café Premier deal.”

Focusing on the oil hedging report, Dr Muscat denied there was a lack of transparency.

“The negotiations were carried out by Enemalta. All the [energy] minister did was establish that contact to encourage the company to take this option. It was not sufficiently documented. I don’t think it’s an issue of transparency,” the Prime Minister said.

He noted that the whole process was so transparent that it was even minuted: “I would be concerned if this had occurred and the minutes of the procurement committee did not refer to it. In that case, nobody would have noticed.”

We’ve said what we’ve had to say on the Café Premier deal

The memorandum of understanding with the Azeri company signed last December was never published. Dr Muscat said the agreement with Socar led to a 2c per litre reduction in the price of petrol at a time when it was set to increase by the same amount.

The National Audit Office report also indicated a loss of €5.5 million on procurement of petrol and diesel.

“We’ve made mistakes we need to learn from but we have the optimism to move forward and we will do better,” Dr Muscat said.

He focused on highlighting two years of achievements by the government, including the shutting down of the old Marsa power station this week.

When it was pointed out that it is the month that should have marked the launch of a new power plant promised by the Labour Party before the election, Dr Muscat insisted the project was on track, adding that the government had reduced water and electricity bills by 25 per cent. It would do the same for businesses in the coming days.

“As a result, we are injecting €70 million into the economy this year and every year after that. This is money companies can use to create employment and growth,” Dr Muscat said.

The government, he added, had inherited a stagnant economy. In one year, the Labour government had cut unemployment by one-third and generated 17 new jobs per day over the past 20 months, he said.

The number of women in the labour market had increased by six per cent, thanks to free childcare services, and the revision of regulations on maternity leave would minimise discrimination against women.

Dr Muscat defended the citizenship by investment scheme saying it served to attract high net worth people to Malta. “Despite the criticism, this proved to be a success,” he said.

He referred to the civil partnership law and the Gender Identity Bill as the most progressive legislation in the EU. “The road ahead leads to a progressive society,” he added.

In the health sector, the government had practically eliminated the problem of out-of-stock medicines. It had brought down waiting lists for operations in a number of areas and was working to change systems to ease hospital overcrowding.

“Change is happening in our country,” Dr Muscat said, adding this was the main difference Labour had made.