The main promoter of the LNG-fired power station and a shareholder in Electrogas is also involved in the multi-million-euro medical marijuana production project, the Times of Malta is informed.
Paul Apap Bologna, who ran an 80-year-old healthcare family business, Associated Drugs Ltd, sat on the board of directors of Nuuvera Malta Ltd, registered on February 16 as Parliament was discussing new legislation to lift a ban on the manufacture of medical cannabis on the island, pharmaceutical industry sources said.
The company is owned by Canadian medical cannabis giants Nuuvera Inc. and Cannholdings Limited, a Maltese firm owned by Mr Apap Bologna, Trevor Camilleri and Mark Magri.
Nuuvera Inc. announced on Tuesday it had purchased Maltese firm ASG Pharma Ltd for €5 million with the aim of commencing medical cannabis products manu-facturing in Malta.
ASG Pharma Ltd was previously owned by Mr Apap Bologna, Consolidated Packaging Ltd, Evolve Ltd and BCGL Services Ltd. It operated from the same offices as Mr Apap Bologna’s drugs company. Nexia BT were its auditors.
Mr Apap Bologna denied reports that he was behind intense lobbying with Maltese government ministers, including the Prime Minister himself, for a change in law to allow cannabis manufacturing plants on the island.
“This is all hogwash. People say a lot of things,” he replied when asked.
This is all hogwash. People say a lot of things
However, he acknowledged that he was interested in the medical cannabis industry.
“I have been in the pharmaceutical business for the last 20 years and have been importing regulated narcotic and psychotropic drugs for medical purposes all along,” Mr Apap Bologna told the Times of Malta.
He said he had been in contact with Nuuvera since last summer and encouraged them to invest in Malta. He also confirmed he would be serving as board director of Nuuvera Malta.
According to the pharmaceutical industry sources, Mr Apap Bologna assured business partners during meetings in Canada last week that the law would soon make it through Parliament and that Malta’s doors would then be completely open for them.
Mr Apap Bologna did not reply when asked about his business trip to Canada.
The sources said the government, through Malta Enterprise, had already promised Nuuvera and Mr Apap Bologna advantageous financial support through ‘investment schemes’.
The government, the sources added, was also considering enlarging Bulebel industrial estate to accommodate medical cannabis manufacturing plants. Mr Apap Bologna, however, insisted Nuuvera was not interested in Bulebel.
In 2013, soon after Labour’s return to power, the government accepted Mr Apap Bologna’s offer for an 18-year multi-million-euro deal to build a new LNG power station in Delimara.
Mr Apap Bologna had roped in another two shareholders on the project: the Gasan and the Tumas Groups. Mr Apap Bologna is related to the Gasan family through marriage.
Mr Apap Bologna is considered by the industry sources to be “close” to senior government officials including the Prime Minister, his chief of staff, Keith Schembri, Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi and Dr Mizzi’s predecessor, Edward Zammit Lewis.
The Bill being debated in Parliament will regulate the production of medical marijuana and place the island among the first in the EU to lay the groundwork for cannabis manufacturing, positioning it as a supplier in the EU.