(Adds ministry's reaction)
The Labour Party is willing to meet the company which has been given the contract for the new power station in Delimara tomorrow under two conditions, Joseph Muscat said this morning.
He told supporters that the PL did not have a problem meeting the company and he would be writing to its representatives this afternoon.
However, he would be making two small conditions – that he would be able to repeat whatever was said during the meeting, and that the company would also find time to meet the media and answer its questions.
The company, BWSC, is being investigated by the Auditor General (AG) because of corruption allegations. Its representatives are also meeting the AG tomorrow.
Labour leader Joseph Muscat on Friday presented the AG with reports of investigations carried out by a Danish newspaper which concluded that the company had used bribery to win contracts abroad.
The company denied the allegations and sent the minister a copy of a letter from the Danish police saying that it was unlikely that a criminal offence had been committed.
But the PL said later this statement did not say whether or not there had been corruption but that there was probably no cause for action under Danish law.
Dr Muscat this morning asked Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt why he only asked the company for an explanation on Friday when at least one PN parliamentary group member had, on October 30, mentioned the same bribery cases.
He also asked to which one of the many cases presented, had the Danish police letter referred to.
The topic was also addressed by the party’s education spokesman Evarist Bartolo who said that the agent receiving the €4 million in commission was the husband of the daughter of the head of the editorial board of Public Broadcasting Services.
INFRASTRUCTURE MINISTRY’S REACTION
The ministry said in a statement that the Opposition leader was now faulting the minister for asking the company for explanations.
Dr Muscat was making an issue out of the situation because the ministry was transparent and published all the correspondence that had passed between the two sides since Friday, it said.
Both Dr Muscat and Mr Bartolo tried to ridicule the Danish police and legal system and if they really did not have anything to hide, they should take the person who provided them with the information to the Auditor General, the ministry said.
It added that the opposition leader was also forgetting that no minister was responsible for the sale of a power station or had the power to decide from whom this could be bought.
There was a process according to law which had to be carried out. This had been done in this case and none of the three shortlisted companies appealed.