Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said yesterday he did not have enough information to ask the police to investigate when, last September, he was informed about a corruption claim connected to the tenders for the super yachts facility.
"I did not have any more information apart from the fact that someone was making some allegations. I did not have anything to go to the police with," he said yesterday.
The Prime Minister said in Parliament on Wednesday that an official in his secretariat had heard the claim from someone involved in the bids and had alerted the Finance Ministry. The ministry investigated but the probe yielded no results.
Based on the same allegation, which, he said, he had only just heard, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi on Wednesday ordered a police investigation.
This followed a parliamentary sitting on Monday in which Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat asked whether Dr Gonzi, or his office, was aware of allegations that someone had asked for money in return for favourable treatment with regard to any government tendering process.
Dr Muscat has since lashed out at the government for waiting eight months before going to the police, pointing a finger in particular at Dr Gonzi. But the Office of the Prime Minister said Dr Gonzi had only been told about the claim on Tuesday.
Mr Fenech has made it clear he had known about the allegations for months. Asked yesterday why he had not called for an investigation as soon as he was made aware of the claim, he said it was a case of hearsay, with someone making the allegation and someone else denying it.
In Parliament on Wednesday, Mr Fenech said he had summoned members of the Privatisation Unit negotiating team and told them about the allegation, which they all denied.
"I did not feel I had enough information to put me in a position to go to the police because this was just hearsay and you do not build a whole investigation on hearsay," he said yesterday.
Mr Fenech added that since the tendering process had been cancelled, anyone trying to engage in foul play did not succeed.
Five bidders had submitted offers for the super yachts facility: Neapolitan firm Palumbo, which has since acquired Malta Shipyards; the Manoel Island Consortium; Melita Group; Hili Group and CGA-CGM.
Last December, the government asked the bidders to submit fresh proposals because their offers were considered unsatisfactory. Palumbo and the Manoel Island Consortium then submitted a joint bid, a move the Finance Ministry denied amounting to collusion but said was allowed under the bidding process' request for proposals.
The government again cancelled the process in February and a new call for tenders has not yet been issued.