The company which has been given the contract for the new power station in Delimara has denied bribery claims made by a foreign newspaper.

Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor said this morning that it had a very strict code of conduct that required all its employees to comply with the requirements of the OECD Convention on Combating of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials.

The company had been investigated by a Danish newspaper which found that it had resorted to bribery to win contracts in many countries.

Labour leader Joseph Muscat passed on the information to the Auditor General and Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt asked the company to reply to the auditor on the claims being made.

The company told the minister in a letter that failure by an employee to comply with the spirit and the letter of its Code would result in disciplinary action, which might include dismissal.

“While it is difficult to comment on the remarks made by the honorable opposition leader without knowing the substance of these remarks, we believe the honorable opposition leader is referring to articles that appeared several years ago in the Danish newspaper, Børsen.

“At that time, the Danish police conducted an investigation of BWSC based on the accusations contained in the articles.

“The investigation concluded that accusations were without merit and police notified BWSC in writing that the investigation was being dismissed. Unfortunately, it is too late today to obtain a certified translation of the dismissal notice, which is in Danish.

“lf it would be helpful for you, I would be happy to forward a certified translation of the dismissal letter on Monday,” the company told the minister.