The whole board of Go plc is today committed to the transfer of an extensive plot of land that used to belong to Maltacom plc but was passed on to Tecom when the latter had taken the company over to set up Go.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said this in Parliament on Wednesday in reply to a question by Opposition Whip Joe Mizzi. But he had been sent off on the wrong foot in replying to the question on what stage talks with Go had got to; whether the land was still appearing on the company’s books or whether it had been transferred back to the government.

When Mr Fenech referred Mr Mizzi back to the answer given to an earlier PQ, Mr Mizzi in a supplementary question observed that no formal conclusion on the plot of land had been reached since November 20, 2010. Had the talks closed or not? He recalled when he had drawn attention for things to be done well, and Minister Austin Gatt had retorted that the government could do what it wanted because it had a five-seat majority.

Minister Fenech apologised to the House for his answer, saying that while reading it he himself had realised it was the wrong answer.

The talks had in fact closed, the agreement reached with Go had been concluded and all papers had been laid on the table of the House for the Public Accounts Committee to consider.

The talks had taken long because of the extensive process to exchange lands on which sub-stations stood with the land in contention, because the former still belonged to the government.

The transaction had also been resisted because Tecom did not represent all the shareholders. Today all the Go plc board was committed to the transaction.

Mr Mizzi asked if the minister recognised that the transfer should be approved by parliamentary resolution. He hoped the minister also recognised it had been wrong for his colleague to brag about the five-seat majority. This meant the opposition had not been destructive as charged.