Labour MP Evarist Bartolo said today that he was asking the Auditor General to investigate collusive bidding for the power station extension contract.
Speaking at a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee, he said the Opposition was asking the Auditor-General to investigate new documents related to the power station extension contract which were presented to him after he concluded his report
Mr Bartolo explained that BWSC, the company which was awarded the contract, was fully owned by Mitsui while MANN, which had come second in the tendering process, was the senior licence partner of Mitsui.This meant that the first and second tenderers were owned by the same company - Mitsui.
Furthermore, Mr Bartolo said, in 2008, Mitsui had agreed to lend Enemalta €210 million for 10 years. The loan was to be subscribed 50% by Nordic Bank and 50% by the European INvestment Bank. Five months later Enemalta had given the power station contract to a Mitsui company.
This, Mr Bartolo said, had not been known to the Auditor General at the time of his report and was contained in the new documents which he had submitted.