George Pullicino on PV contract: 'I have nothing to hide'

Nationalist MP and former resources minister George Pullicino took his time in parliament to reiterate that he had nothing to do with the administrative shortcomings in relation to a €35 million contract awarded to the Alberta Photovoltaic Consortium just before the March 2013 elections.

Instead, he reiterated that his only involvement was to present the letter of intent to the successful bidder.

Pullicino said the government was using tactics to divert attention from “serious matters” by attacking his credibility as an MP.

“It is evident that my work in this Chamber, and outside, is irritating the government. Because I was the one who discovered the public document which showed that the government told the EU, that the BWSC plant generated clean energy,” Pullicino said.

He said that the document had been passed on to the European Union.

The MP said the government had now resorted to tactics to undermine his credibility.

Commenting on the award of the €35 million contract, Pullicino said he had nothing to hide.

“I called on the Acting Police Commissioner to ask him to investigate the case. Coincidentally, Konrad Mizzi used that story to divert attention from the scandal of the power station,” he said, with reference to the delayed construction of the power plant.

“It is a scandal that the Prime Minister lied. Before the elections he said that the BWSC was a cancer factory; today he tells the EU it generates clean energy. He should shoulder responsibility for all these lies.”

Pullicino added that Muscat had to decide: “Either he lied during the campaign, or he is lying today.”

The former minister said the government “was very good at using the media and journalists who enter the scene”.

“These journalists, instead of asking Mizzi about his scandal, are used to focus their attention and time to raise other questions as a tactic to divert attention,” Pullicino said. He is understood to have been referring to those journalists who have sought clarifications and asked the Opposition questions on the €35 million contract issued under the previous adminstration.

This contract, under investigation by the IAID, has now been passed on to the Police for investigation, on suspicion of a potential fraudulent document. An important bank document was found to be without a signature. According to the government, when contacted, the bank said such a document could have never been issued without the necessary signature.

Speaking during the 30 minutes allocated for the adjournment, Pullicino said he had nothing to hide with regard to this contract.

“I never interfered with the process; during our times, the ministry never decided on tenders but there was a process under the discipline of the contracts committee. The adjudication of this contract took three years.”

Pullicino said the process started in 2009 and was finalised when he formally presented the letter of intent to the Alberta Photovoltaic Consortium. He said that the presentation had been covered by a statement and photo issued by the Department of Information.

“I even wrote in my personal blog that the letter of intent had been presented. I have nothing to hide. It is them [government] who should be ashamed for failing to make contracts public,” he said.

He added that the rate at which the contract for the feed-in tariff was awarded included the costs of obligations that the successful bidder had to fulfill.

Pullicino said the media should be asking Mizzi on when the national action plan for renewable energy will be published.

“How many journalists are there in this country willing to ask Mizzi about the revised plan for renewable energy? We are already in October and this report has not been made public yet,” Pullicino said.

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The former resources minister said Mizzi should also say how many people had answered a government’s call to register lands that could be used for solar farms.

“Instead, the minister tries to tarnish my name with a story that took place two years ago. All because he found himself cornered and he couldn’t answer our questions on the energy plan. He didn’t even commit himself to a timeline,” Pullicino said.

He reiterated that “such tactics” didn’t intimidate him but strengthened his “energy” to continue uncovering “facts and abuses in Enemalta and the Water Services Corporation”.

He also said that he would relay this information “to those media willing to report without blinkers”.

“It is clear that they want to tarnish my reputation and shut me up. But I will not give in and I thank them for strengthening my resolve to continue uncovering what they want to hide. I never went to Spain to negotiate a contract or reversed decisions taken by the privatisation unit; I never gave my wife €13,000 a month to serve as a public official. I always carried out my work with loyalty.”