Auditor General admonishes MPs in Electrogas PAC

Auditor General Charles Deguara scolded MPs during a Public Accounts Committee as both sides butted heads over the Electrogas audit report. 

"We aren't a football referee. If in 20 years we come to building a new power station we can work on the good that we find in this situation, while eliminating the bad." Deguara told the committee. 

"That's our only scope - we're not here to point fingers at each other."

MPs from both the Labour and Nationalist camps grilled Keith Mercieca, the Assistant Auditor General, over the conclusions put forward in the office's report on the Electragas contracts signed by Enemalta. Questions ranged from legal technicalities and bid clarifications, to the capped delay liquidated damages clause.

However the committee meeting, held this afternoon in Parliament, saw frequent bickering between the two factions over the power station project, which was the centre of political controversy since the start of the bidding process.

In its lengthy 2018 report, the Auditor General found significant due diligence concerns in the Electrogas tender. The office noted how a late decision by government to include a security of supply agreement in the tender gave the two final bidders a significant advantage, with the agreement serving to significantly reduce the risk to bidders.

Other salient points 

• The bank guarantee provided by the government to Electrogas was irregular in terms of the guidelines applicable at the time 
• Interconnector prices were far cheaper than those from the Electrogas power plant
• The NAO had no evidence that project was a done deal

READ ALSO: ‘Significant concern’ over due diligence in Electrogas tender – Auditor General