Enemalta ‘has not learnt anything’ from BWSC episode - Bartolo

Enemalta Corporation yesterday confirmed allegations by Labour leader Joseph Muscat that BWSC middleman Joe Mizzi – the same man who brokered the Delimara extension contract, fraught with allegations of controversy - has been awarded a €497,000 tender for the purchase of 10 trucks.

During last Friday’s edition of Xarabank, Muscat revealed that Mizzi had secured the tender. However, he mistakenly quoted the tender’s price tag as €650,000 instead of €497,000.

But on Tuesday, Enemalta confirmed Mizzi’s newest tender award along with its actual price of Mizzi’s newest tender, adding that the tender was a Department of Contracts one.

“Due process was followed. Eight bids were received, of which CO.ME.T Sas had the all round cheapest offer by far, and was therefore the tenderer which was awarded the contract on the 23 March 2011,” the state-owned corporation said.

During Xarabank, Muscat has alleged that Mizzi was the middleman in the contract. The same Joe Mizzi first made headlines when confidential emails between him and Danish contractor BWSC’s management were revealed by Labour MP Evarist Bartolo.

The revelations gave rise to serious allegations of misconduct in the tendering process and awarding of a €200 million contract for the Delimara power station extension. Bartolo now speculates that Mizzi’s leverage did not end with the BSWC Delimara power station extension tender.

“It seems that the valuable contacts within Enemalta and the local political scene that Mizzi boasted of are still yielding dividends,” Bartolo remarked.

Bartolo added that when he first publicised Mizzi’s connections to the state-owned corporation, Enemalta had denied the affiliation. “But anyone who knows what goes on at Enemalta, knows that he was always coming and going.”

He added that “it seems as if they [Enemalta] have not learned anything after the whole BSWC episode.”

As BWSC’s representative in Malta throughout the tender negotiation process, Labour says Mizzi allegedly pocketed €4 million in commissions for having clinched the multi-million deal for the firm.

A former Enemalta employee, he was referred to as “intelligence working in fifth gear” by a satisfied BWSC official in the emails. E-mail conversations between Mizzi and BWSC officials spoke of the need to “tap into higher political sources” in order to secure the contract. 

The award of the tender to Danish firm BWSC attracted controversy, also because the new turbine will be powered by a diesel engine, to be converted in future to a combined cycle gas turbine. 

A rival bidder, Israeli firm Bateman, claims its combined cycle gas turbine was cheaper than the BWSC offer. Bateman however never formally appealed the Department of Contracts’ decision to award the contract to BWSC, and instead filed a judicial protest in court.

The BWSC tender was the focus of an investigation by the Auditor General, in which he said he found hints of impropriety but not hard evidence, and considerable debate within the Public Accounts Committee within Parliament.