Café Premier, Valletta, formerly owned by Cities Entertainment and bought back by the current administration in a controversial deal. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Justice Shadow Minister Jason Azzopardi revealed yesterday that Cities Entertainment, the owners of Café Premier, were allowed to take €288,000 in furniture and equipment following liquidation, aside from the €4.2 million paid by the government to buy back the premises.

Speaking during the debate in second reading of the Budget Measures Implementation Bill, Dr Azzopardi said it was “scandalous” that a company facing liquidation was also allowed to take its assets, which are normally sold by the owners to pay part of their debts.

He noted no less than 17 “mistakes” that had been made in the deal, including unnecessary haste. In contrast, both the Qormi footbridge and the impeachment of a judge never materialised as the government dragged its feet.

In the Café Premier case, the Parliamentary Secretary, the Auditor General, the Commissioner for Land and the Finance Minister were all left out of the negotiations. The use of the Prime Minister’s personal e-mail in the case was also a “mistake”, Dr Azzopardi remarked.

Turning to “the feeble excuse about the risk of the gas ovens”, Dr Azzopardi said it was unheard of that the Prime Minister should mislead his Cabinet in this way.

There were people who had gone to jail for a fraction of the VAT which was owed by Mario Camilleri. His tax and national insurance arrears were also waived, which was scandalous.

And what was worse was that a private entrepreneur was interested in buying Café Premier but the government stepped in instead. Even more scandalous was paying a €210,000 commission to the person who was selling.

“This was madness and one didn’t need to be a lawyer to understand why,” he quipped.

It was ‘scandalous’ that a company facing liquidation was also allowed to take its assets, which are normally sold by the owners to pay part of their debts

No wonder the Leader of the Opposition was saying there was a stink of corruption surrounding this bailout.

He also said that the most recent audited accounts of Cities Entertainment were dated December 31, 2012, with a disclaimer that the audit evidence was not sufficient.

Public funds were used to pay off this company’s debts. Not only was the Prime Minister involved but he was in it up to his eyeballs, Dr Azzopardi said.

The excuses now being made to justify this were that the government was ‘green’ and inexperienced, but this was not acceptable, because Dr Muscat had promised the most formidable Cabinet Malta had ever had.

What sort of government, which claimed it would be the ‘best’, took these kind of unscrupulous decisions?

Turning to the fuel hedging issue, Dr Azzopardi said the PL had spent weeks demonising then minister Austin Gatt for giving certain directions to Enemalta on hedging, with headlines accusing him of political interference and even criminal acts.

But now Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi had told Enemalta to buy specifically from Socar, with a complete lack of documentation. Was this acceptable?

This was abuse and interference for which the public would be paying with higher prices.

Concluding, Dr Azzopardi said the government did not respect the institutions and had no idea of good governance.

This was shameless behaviour after just two years in government and was harking back to the governing style of the 1980s.