A change in policy to go from gas to heavy fuel oil in power generation was not dicusssed by the PN parliamentary group, former Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando said.
Testifying before the Public Accounts Committee, Dr Pullicino Orlando said that, during the BWSC power plant controversy, he had asked for a discussion within the PN parliamentary group about the new facility. Together with another five MPs, he had expressed concerns in view of the promulgation of a legal notice that, according to him, allowed the use of heavy fuel oil. This jarred with the announcement by former energy minister Josef Bonnici in 1999 that Enemalta would switch to gas.
Although former Nationalist Cabinet minister Austin Gatt, who was responsible for Enemalta, had addressed certain issues and technical matters raised by the MPs about the BWSC contract, the explanations given about the legal notice did not put their minds at rest, Dr Pullicino Orlando said.
He said he would not be correct and would be only speculating if he were to link the decision to opt for heavy fuel oil with the allegations of corruption in fuel procurement.
Furthermore, when George Farrugia was given a presidential pardon (to spill the beans on the scandal), he was no longer a member of the PN parliamentary group.
The PAC is looking into a report by the Auditor General on the effectiveness of Enemalta’s fuel procurement procedures between 2008 and 2013. Dr Pullicino Orlando said he could not comment on the way Dr Gatt used to conduct his day-to-day business because he was not involved with him in his work as a minister.
He said he was closest to Dr Gatt before 1996, adding it was the former minister who actually encouraged him to stand for election.
He said that neither Enemalta’s financial position nor its procurement rules had been discussed by the PN parliamentary group, so far as he could recall. When asked about his impressions following the transfer of Enemalta’s ministerial responsibility to Tonio Fenech from Dr Gatt, Dr Pullicino Orlando said that it appeared the corporation then started operating more smoothly.
Dr Pullicino Orlando said that the PN had invited him back but he refused and he was not ashamed to form part of Joseph Muscat’s team.