Investigations carried out by a Danish newspaper showed that BWSE and its Japanese mother company Mitsui were involved in cases of bribery to win contracts.

Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSE) has won the tender for the Delimara power station, currently being investigated by the Auditor General at the minister’s request following allegations of corruption by the Labour Party.

PL leader Joseph Muscat and spokesman Evarist Bartolo passed on this information to Auditor General Anthony Mifsud during a meeting this afternoon.

Dr Muscat said that internal company documents showed that senior BWSE officials had spent millions on bribes for the company to win contracts in countries such as the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Bahamas.

In certain cases, politicians were also given commissions of up to 10 per cent to win special agents.

BWSE documents showed that in 1999 a director had approved $90,000 bribe to a public official in the Philippines in connection with a project in Subic Bay.

An internal investigation did not find anything irregular after May 2000.

But former company lawyer Thomas Hall said that the company in 2002 paid $75,000 for one of its competitors to be excluded.

Dr Muscat said that Mitsui were also involved in series of scandals in Russia, Malaysia, Korea, Jordan and Qatar, paying €700 million in bribes up to 1998.

The Labour leader said reflected a trend the comapny followed to obtain contracts all over the world.

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