The decision by the government members on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) first to walk out of the first meeting, which was about to discuss the Auditor General’s report on the BWSC contract, and, the following week, to vote against having each one of the 11 witnesses called to be questioned by the PAC, proves the government does not want any, more profound, scrutiny of that contract.

That Lawrence Gonzi’s government, and Minister Austin Gatt in particular, are extremely embarrassed about the way BWSC had won that contract was shown by the way Dr Gatt reacted to the questions put to him by The Times, going so far as to accuse this newspaper of “conjecture at best. Blatant spin at worst…”!

Coming from the same minister who was the minister responsible at the time the contract for the extension of the power station at Delimara was awarded to BWSC, Dr Gatt’s accusation is quite rich! More so when, in my opinion, he should not have been on the PAC blocking witnesses from answering questions but should have been one of the witnesses called to answer questions!