Gasan and Tumas behind energy bid

Electro Gas Malta, one of the 11 shortlisted companies in the government tender for gas supply and purchase agreements, includes GEM Holdings - a company owned by Gasan Group Limited and Tumas Group Limited.

This makes it the only company among the 11 with a Maltese shareholding.

The consortium also includes Socar Training SA, a member of which is the state oil company of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Siemens Project Ventures - a subsidiary of the German multinational engineering and electronics conglomerate - and UK-based Gasol Plc.

Siemens was the manufacturer of the 132kV Switchgear for the BWSC plant in Delimara. Evarist Bartolo has questioned the participation of the company in the BWSC bid in a series of articles highlighting the company's questionable record.

In 2008 a Munich court convicted a former Siemens manager of corruption, sentenced the man to two year's probation and fined him €108,000 ($170,000).

In 2009 the World Bank Group announced a comprehensive settlement with Siemens AG in the wake of the company's acknowledged past misconduct in its global business and a World Bank investigation into corruption in a project in Russia involving a Siemens subsidiary. The settlement included a commitment by Siemens to pay $100 million over the next 15 years to support anti-corruption work, an agreement to a debarment of up to four years for the company's Russian subsidiary and a voluntary two-year block from bidding on bank business for Siemens AG and all of its consolidated subsidiaries and affiliates.

As part of the settlement, Siemens also agreed to cooperate to change industry practices, clean up procurement practices and engage in collective action with the World Bank Group to fight fraud and corruption.

The state-owned Azerbaijani Energy Company was embroiled in controversy after its involvement in the demolition of illegal houses on the outskirts of Baku just before the 2012 Eurovision contest. Journalist Idrak Abbasov was beaten by SOCAR employees while filming the demolition.

In 2012 investigative journalist Shavalad Chobanoghlu challenged Azerbaijan's Supreme Court refusal to order the state oil company to disclose funding for its new multimillion-dollar headquarters: the $250 million SOCAR towers, which dominate the Baku skyline.

Greece is set to agree to the sale of its natural gas grid operator DESFA to SOCAR.

Gasol Plc is a UK-based gas company, whose website states that it "intends to purchase stranded gas assets in Nigeria and other countries along the Gulf of Guinea". Gasol's primary geographic focus is the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), together with Mauritania.

Enemalta, following various inquiries by MaltaToday in recent months, published the shareholdings of the 11 shortlisted bidders.

The bidders include the Chinese, government-owned CPECC.

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Company Limited, one of the bidders, has teamed with Korea Southern Power - a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), which is responsible for 93% of Korea's electricity generation.

Other bidders include the Spanish multinational Abener, French-Italian Edison, Indian GMR, Anglo-Dutch giant Shell, Paris-based Soffimat, Turkish-owned Yildirim and Swiss-based, Dutch-owned owned Vitol.

In 2001 an investigation by The Observer established that millionaire oil trader Bob Finch, director of Vitol, used Serbian warlord Arkan as a 'fixer' in a controversial oil deal in the former Yugoslavia.