Opposition leader Joseph Muscat asked the Prime Minister today to explain the involvement, if any, of the former Chief Executive of Malta Shipyards, Chris Bell in the talks on the privatisation of the shipyard.

He asked if Mr Bell continued to be consulted even when he was no longer CEO, what his role was vis-a-vis Mimcol (the government holding company) and whether he was paid for such services.

Speaking during the debate in Parliament over a motion for the transfer of the ship repair facilities to Italian company Palumbo and the former Manoel Island Yacht Yard to Manoel Island Yacht Yard consortium, Dr Muscat said he also wanted to ask the Prime Minister whether he or his office had received any reports on persons involved in the adjudicating process having asked for money during the privatisation negotiations.

Dr Muscat said he was giving the Prime Minister the benefit of the doubt and giving him time to reply. The Opposition would then proceed accordingly.

However the points he had raised last week about measures to combat corruption applied to the BWSC power station case as much as they could apply to other cases, he said.

In his speech Dr Muscat hit out at the government over the Fairmount ship conversion contracts, which, he said, had cause losses equivalent to the cost of the cancer hospital and also contributed directly to the closure of the dockyard.

He also raised questions about ‘loose' conditions in the 30-year contract for Palumbo to take over the ship repair facilities, noting, as an example, that Palumbo simply needed government approval to change the use of the properties which were being given to it. Such properties could even be sub-let to third parties.