The chairman of the committee that chose Lahmeyer International as consultant for the processing of the power station extension tender has admitted he made a mistake not to vet the firm’s track record.

David Spiteri Gingell said on Bondiplus TV he would decide differently if he could turn the clock back.

“I admit to making a mistake, as a committee (by choosing Lahmeyer International) because I assumed that, since the Malta Resources Authority had worked with them in the past, they had already been vetted,” he said.

As he spoke, Labour MP Leo Brincat interjected to point out that a simple Google search of Lahmeyer’s name would have flagged the company’s dodgy past, to which Mr Gingell said: “I admit, I made a mistake. Can I do more than that? If I could turn the clock back I would decide differently”.

At that point, Mr Brincat said he had no problem accepting the statement, having earlier declared he respected Mr Spiteri Gingell, who also acted as a consultant under Labour.

The Auditor-General in a report last month criticised the choice of Lahmeyer as an independent consultant because it was blacklisted by the World Bank and had been engaged in a joint project with BWSC even if Lahmeyer was supposed to have drawn up an independent analysis on the same bidder.

The Auditor also noted that Joseph Mizzi, BWSC’s agent in Malta, had served as Lahmeyer’s agent up to 2007.

During the show, Mr Spiteri Gingell insisted that the equipment to be used for the power station extension was not a prototype because there was a similar one in South Korea. The only difference, he said, was that while South Korea disposed of the sludge the plant produced directly into the sea, Malta would ship it in containers. He said he had told the Auditor General about this but it was never included in the final report.