A top official at the government's investment management company Mimcol yesterday denied allegations of corruption levelled at him by a former bidder in the privatisation of the shipyard's super yacht facility.

Mimcol chief executive Mario Mizzi, who is also a member of the government's Privatisation Unit, filed a judicial protest against marine engineer Paul Cardona who, said Mr Mizzi, had made the allegation.

Mr Mizzi was called in for questioning by the police after the allegation was referred to the Police Commissioner by the Prime Minister.

Mr Mizzi said Mr Cardona, through Marine Consultancy Services Ltd, formed part of one of the bidding consortia for the super yacht facility. The Privatisation Unit's evaluation committee had found that none of the bids submitted was satisfactory and the privatisation process was called off last November. Bidders were again invited by the Privatisation Unit to submit fresh bids, however the second process was also called off earlier this year.

Mr Mizzi said he could not understand how he could be faced with such an allegation after the tendering process had been called off and when, according to Mr Cardona himself, the alleged corruption went back more than 18 months.

He added that during the second bidding process, a number of consortia had joined forces. The consortium that included Marine Consultancy Services Ltd protested about this, so the Privatisation Unit stopped the process.

"Irrespective of what Mr Cardona had to say and what his intentions are, the fact remains that the consortium of which Mr Cardona formed part was not chosen and it was the Evaluation Committee's unanimous decision that the bid was not acceptable or satisfactory," Mr Mizzi said in his judicial protest.

He added that the privatisation process was handled in an honest and transparent manner and that Mr Cardona's allegations were malicious.

Mr Mizzi is holding him responsible for any damages.

An allegation that someone had asked for money to give favourable treatment to a bidder was first made to an official in the Office of the Prime Minister in September. The official in turn informed Finance Minister Tonio Fenech who later said he did not refer it to the police because the allegation was based on "hearsay". Instead, he confronted the Privatisation Unit board members with the allegation but they denied it.

Two weeks ago in Parliament, the Prime Minister said he only got to know about the allegation after the Opposition Leader raised a number of questions.

He referred the allegation to the police and the investigation is still under way.