PAC to review Electrogas minutes submitted by Tumas CEO Ray Fenech

Minutes for high-level meetings in Electrogas and GEM Holdings have been presented to parliament's public accounts committee (PAC), but will not be made public.

Tumas Group CEO Ray Fenech submitted the minutes of Electrogas meetings to the PAC on Tuesday. The committee will be reviewing the documents in private.

The minutes relate to the operations of Electrogas Malta (EGM) and GEM Holdings, which is the company that represents the three Maltese shareholders in the Electrogas consortium. The documents cover 2013 to 2017, which marked the financial close of the project.

The consortium was awarded a controversial tender to build and operate a gas power station and liquefied natural gas terminal at Delimara.

Michael Grech, the company secretary for Electrogas and GEM, joined Fenech for the committee meeting to present the company minutes.

He explained that Raymond Sladden used to be the company secretary, but confirmed that the minutes or certified copies.

Fenech requested that the documents remain unpublished, pointing out that there might be commercially sensitive data or other information subject to GDPR. “We can’t put ourselves liable for issues of GDPR or commercial sensitivity unless this committee absolves us of that responsibility.”

The MPs agreed to this request and proceeded to review the minutes behind closed doors.

Grech added that few formal meetings were held in GEM Holdings. He said that most meetings would be held on the periphery of Electrogas meetings. “Formal meetings wouldn’t take place at GEM Holdings.”

Ray Fenech will testify before the committee on Tuesday, 11 October after its members have reviewed the minutes.

Central Bank governor Edward Scicluna will be testifying on the same day. Scicluna was the finance minister when the power station deal was negotiated and signed off.

The PAC is probing the findings of a 500-page NAO audit into the multi-million-euro tender awarded to Electrogas in 2013.

The NAO report concluded in 2018 had raised several concerns over the tendering process, especially how certain conditions were changed halfway through the tendering process.