Israel has rejected claims it put pressure on the Maltese government to favour an Israeli bid for the Delimara power station extension contract.
Israeli Ambassador to Malta Gideon Meir confirmed he held talks with the government to try to convince it that Bateman's offer was "very good", but insisted this was normal practice.
"There was never any pressure. There were talks. I raised the matter with the Prime Minister and other politicians and told them we wanted to compete on a level playing field," Mr Meir told The Sunday Times.
Speaking on the television discussion programme Bondiplus last Monday, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said the Israeli government, through its ambassador, had put pressure on the government to opt for the Israeli bid.
"He didn't tell us to adhere to the normal process but to prefer Bateman. This is the pressure which is constantly put on governments," Mr Fenech said.
The minister was speaking in the wake of a damning report drawn up by the Auditor General into a controversial contract awarded to Danish company BWSC.
The Prime Minister's personal assistant, Edgar Galea Curmi, had also testified before the Auditor General about the Israeli "pressure".
But the Rome-based ambassador hit back, saying it is very common today for foreign ministers and ambassadors to promote their country's products and services as long as this is done in a legal and fair way.
He said that to the best of his knowledge Bateman presented a very good bid which was some $30 million cheaper than the selected bidder. The Israeli offer also provided the cleanest environment solutions, he said.
"I don't know what happened in the middle. Once the procedure started, as an ambassador I was out of it," Mr Meir insisted.
Asked whether he suspected any wrongdoing in the tendering process, Mr Meir replied: "I'm not in a position to say that. It became an internal issue... Once it became a political problem I was out of it."
The Israeli company's bid for the extension to the power station was rejected, and subsequently filed a judicial protest calling on the government, Enemalta and the Director of Contracts not to award the contract to preferred bidder BWSC.
Bateman had quoted a price of €186 million - €149 million plus €37 million for the five-year maintenance contract. BWSC had quoted a total of €183 million - €165 million for the new extension with an additional €18 million for a five-year maintenance contract.
Bateman insisted that its equipment, which operated on diesel or gas, was the cheapest, its technology was the cleanest and the unit cost of electricity from its plant when using gas would be the lowest.
It had said the rival bid was considerably more expensive, both with regard to capital costs and in terms of the cost for its eventual conversion from heavy fuel oil to gas. Bateman also insisted its plant would take up considerably less space at Delimara and produce fewer emissions.
The Auditor's report had criticised the contract, signed behind closed doors last year, saying it was drawn up hastily and riddled with administrative shortcomings. However, the Auditor said could not find any "hard evidence" of corruption.
The extension to the Delimara power station, which will be completed by the end of 2011, is intended to replace the Marsa plant, which is being decommissioned.
hgrech@timesofmalta.com