Health and Energy Minister asks for protection of the Speaker as Opposition MPs question him about the power station contract
The Malta Independent reports:
Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi this evening insisted in Parliament that he will only answer questions on the agreement signed last week for the provision of electricity and gas if they are submitted in writing.
Refusing to answer a series of questions put by MPs Marthese Portelli, George Pullicino, Ryan Callus, David Agius and Mario de Marco, Dr Mizzi at one point even asked for the protection of the Speaker as the questions continued to flow. Dr Mizzi argued that the supplementary questions being put were not linked to the original question.
One of the questions asked was why the government was ready to call the media to announce a 2c reduction in the price of petrol but did not do so on a deal that is worth €400 million and will last 18 years.
32 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-05-14/news/minister-says-he-will-only-answer-questions-on-energy-deal-if-they-are-made-in-writing-5001183232/
Halluh, miskin lil-Konrad. Mitluf wahda sew!
Fenomenali, Konrad! Steel Soldier or Toy Soldier? The man is pathetic.
I’m still not sure whether this man is a bad person himself or simply his boss’s tool.
You got it – he is definitely il-pastas of “2c big liar Joe”. Why do you think that he was also given the Health portfolio – because he is a big YESMAN
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LvdLovAaYzM
Malta is becoming more unbelievable by the hour. The MLP have very shady multi million dollar deals that allow them to amass great wealth while our economy slowly decays.
Transparency and meritocracy my foot.
All Hail Manwel.
The Minister is such a whimp, unfortunately for us all. Can we take it that he has instructions not to open his mouth without an approving nod by the Prime Minister and his advisers?
http://www.lngworldnews.com/gasol-to-buy-30-pct-in-malta-power-gas/
http://www.4-traders.com/SIEMENS-AG-436605/news/Siemens–Gasol-to-Acquire-Stake-in-Malta-Power–Gas-18433958/
http://www.lngindustry.com/news/liquid-natural-gas/articles/ElectroGas_Malta_acquires_MPGL_582.aspx
It is very clear that there has been no signing of the power purchase agreement, but only the signing by Gasol of a Share Purchase Agreement to acquire its 30% stake in Malta Power & Gas Limited – the company which had been set up by Enemalta and which currently holds the permit to build the gas plant and to install an LNG tanker in the Marsaxlokk Bay, close to residential areas. Malta Power & Gas Limited will be renamed Electrogas Malta Limited once the financing is completed.
The other 70% in Malta Power & Gas Limited will be held as follows:
– 30% GEM Holdings.
– 20% Socar – a company owned by the State of Azerbaijan, which is led by corrupt dictator Ilham Alijev who was re-elected in “free and fair” elections in 2013 as confirmed by the Speaker of the Maltese Parliament Anglu Farrugia. Aliyev is the father of Leyla, whose obsession with Azerbaijan winning the Eurovision may lead her to present herself with a beard in next year’s edition.
– 20% Siemens Project Ventures, a company forming part of the Siemens group, which had reached a settlement with the World Bank to avoid blacklisting after it had been involved in high-profile cases of corruption which had been very well documented by Evarist Bartolo in MaltaToday.
Back to serious stuff, this should lead to some important questions:
Why is Gasol the first company to sign the SPA?
Why does Gasol hold a 30% share – one of the larger shares – in Malta Power & Gas Limited?
Who is financing Gasol?
Does the Chinese government or any of its development banks have any involvement in Gasol?
Is Shiv Nair connected with Gasol?
Also, what has Gasol pre-financed and why?
How did it obtain this backing?
Why would a company that has not yet signed a contract already have started work on it?
What were the mandates given by Government in this respect?
What assurances were given?
Why?
Were all parties to the consortium treated equally and with the same measure of transparency served on all, despite zero transparency served on the Maltese parliament and public?
Gasol signed an agreement with China on 1 May this year. The Chinese company’s name is almost immaterial. All major Chinese companies are state-owned.
I think you have hit a very big nail on the head and which is why the government are being very defensive.
Going by the Times of Malta article below, the Electrogas members are to acquire the SPV company (Malta Power & Gas Limited) for 30 million EUR in cash.
“As part of these arrangements, it is expected that Electrogas will enter into various agreements with Enemalta including an acquisition agreement under which Electrogas will acquire a special purpose vehicle with all the necessary permits to undertake the project for a consideration of €30 million in cash. The total cost to Electrogas of developing the project over the next 24 months is expected to be around €370 million, which it is envisaged will be financed 80:20 in debt and equity respectively by Electrogas”
I agree with your line that it is the acquisition agreement that has been signed and not the 18-year power purchase agreement.
I would further imagine that the power purchase agreement will only be signed when all of the Electrogas consortium members have signed the acquisition agreement and bought their respective stake in Malta Power & Gas Limited.
Of course, there is a chance that Malta Power & Gas Limited have already signed the power purchase agreement with Enemalta pending transfer to Electrogas. This would mean that Enemalta have entered into an 18-year agreement with themselves.
As Gasol have entered into a partnership with a Chinese construction and financing company, where did they get the Eur9 million to buy their stake, considering they are a tiny company with no assets of their own. From the Chinese?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20131015/local/power-station-project-to-cost-370-million.490466
ElectroGas Malta Limited has not yet been formed. The parties to the consortium still operate in their own names.
@ Gary
1. “I would further imagine that the power purchase agreement will only be signed when all of the Electrogas consortium members have signed the acquisition agreement and bought their respective stake in Malta Power & Gas Limited.”
Yes, without doubt. MPGL is not in a position to commit the consortium shareholders until they become shareholders of MPGL and appoint their own directors.
The consortium members (other than Gasol, which I still see as an enigma in this deal) will only come on board as shareholders of MPGL once the financing of the powerstation project is completed. This was confirmed in a comment in the Gasol announcement, which says that financing is not ready yet.
See my detailed analysis here:
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/05/rainbow-flags-dont-put-food-on-the-table/
If anything, Gasol’s first step shows that it is the leading agent of the deal. We really need good journalists to understand who is behind Gasol exactly, and what they are doing exactly, especially those transactions which they say they are doing in Africa.
2. “Of course, there is a chance that Malta Power & Gas Limited have already signed the power purchase agreement with Enemalta pending transfer to Electrogas. This would mean that Enemalta have entered into an 18-year agreement with themselves.”
No. Absolutely not. MPGL cannot commit to the power purchase agreement because it currently has no resources or commitments from the consortium members. It would be illegal for the current directors of MPGL to enter into such agreement when they have no formal commitment of the shareholders, and no financing in place.
Besides, if MPGL had entered into those commitments, Gasol, as a public listed company on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange, would have had to include details about the nature and extent of those commitments in its public announcement which was published on 14 May, because they would be very significant to the agreement it has just signed.
http://hsprod.investis.com/ir/gas/ir.jsp?page=news-item&item=1762588006285312
Also, at the moment, MPGL is controlled by Enemalta, its largest current shareholder (until all Enemalta’s shares are sold to the consortium members, other than the 30% committed by Gasol). MPGL cannot make a commitment to Enemalta binding MPGL’s main shareholder, Enemalta, not only because it does not make sense, but also because Enemalta does not have the financial ability for that commitment.
Enemalta still has not made any public announcement on the issue, suggesting very clearly that no power purchase agreement has been signed. That deal is so huge, that Enemalta would have to publish a statement with enough information for its stakeholders, not least the banks and foreign creditors.
http://www.enemalta.com.mt/news.aspx?cat=3&news=9
This is a big news story.
“Government to publish power station contract after all” – says Times of Malta.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140515/local/government-to-publish-power-station-contract-after-all.519134
The title gives the impression that the contract will be published imminently, or that the government had previously said that it will not publish the contract and has now had a change of heart.
But on Reporter last Monday, Joseph Muscat did not say that the contract will not be published. He contradicted himself about the signing of the contract, but in the second version said that the contract will be published.
So Times of Malta’s title does not reflect the news value here.
This is what the prime minister said:
“M’hemmx segretezzi fuq l-ebda kuntratt tal-powerstejxin. Ha jkun miftuh ghall-iskrutinju publiku hekk kif jasal il-waqt.
Kif jasal il-waqt ha jkun miftuh ghall-iskrutinju pubbliku bl-istess mod kif kienu miftuhin ghal iskrutinju publici accounts, kontijiet u kuntratti simili fis-snin li ghaddew – ovvjament wiehed irid jara is-sensitivita kummercjali. Ovvjament ahna f’pajjizna ghandna wkoll l-Freedom of Information Act.”
Notice the standard answer repeated twice, although with a slight change in the argument order:
“Ha jkun miftuh ghall-iskrutinju publiku hekk kif jasal il-waqt.”
“Kif jasal il-waqt ha jkun miftuh ghall-iskrutinju publiku.”
This is in fact a Konrad Mizzi type of answer: Mizzi often answers media questions by repeating his reply in different versions – allowing for the occasional “fenomenali” added here and there.
This answer shows that the prime minister was careful not to deviate in his reply from a very carefully studied reply which has all the elements to cover his *rse.
Then there is the use of the plural like “segretezzi” and “l-ebda kuntratt tal-powerstejxin.” He has probably widened the population of contracts on purpose, because there are different contracts that need to be signed about the powerstation. The contract signed last Friday as reported in The Times on Monday appears to be just one of many such contracts.
Notice also the body language of the prime minister – an attempt to disarm the journalists with an innocent smile. This body language changes completely in subsequent questions on other topics.
The prime minister is only buying more time. The power purchase agreement has not been signed.
What has happened last Friday is getting clearer.
Joseph Muscat has secured a commitment from Gasol plc – which in its recent interim results stated that it is the “lead developer” of the Malta project – to acquire its 30% share in Malta Power and Gas Limited from Enemalta.
This means that there must now be a commitment by Gasol plc to pay the amount mentioned by Gary of Eur 9 million (30% of the price set by the government of Malta for MPGL of Eur 30 million) to Enemalta in return for the 30% stake in MPGL.
Those Eur 9 million will be used by Enemalta (read Muscat) to cover the first tranche of revenue losses that will be suffered by Enemalta from the reduction in the water and electricity bills, which will amount to around Eur 25-30 million this year alone.
When the other members of the consortium sign up for the remaining 70% of the shares in MPGL, Muscat will have secured a commitment for the remaining Eur 21 million to cover the rest of the losses in Enemalta’s revenues this year.
Muscat and Mizzi both said a contract has been signed with Electrogas. It seems they are lying (so what’s new?)
Neither Mizzi nor Muscat mentioned whether they meant Electrogas the company or the consortium. Neither the company nor the consortium can enter into any contracts because they do not exist as legal entities.
A consortium is not a legal entity, by definition, and ElectroGas Malta Limited has not yet been formed so it does not exist legally.
Muscat and Mizzi were categorical. They said ‘Electrogas’, not
Malta Power and Gas Limited. That company is still owned by Enemalta so by signing an agreement with that company, Enemalta would be binding itself to supply itself with gas for 18 years.
Buying time?
Questions in writing will be replied in writing. Let’s not hope to get any answers before the 24th.
They don’t want to be bogged down by little details such as transparency – too scared that the murkiness of it all will put brakes on the project and prevent them attaining the deadline to the unnecessary project that – permit an underline – was not required.
It was only required FROM Muscat as a payback.
Muscat’s unethical pressure on the consortium (playing about with date of signature and its delay), and the consortium’s delivery, is only jeoparised by his being called to account by parliament and the public.
Can it be called unethical pressure if nothing about this deal – including the tender award – was ethical in the first place?
It is right and utterly correct of the public as well as the Opposition in Parliament to call Joseph Muscat, and the consortium, to full account.
So I guess it’s safe to say that something is very wrong with this contract, if they are determined to keep it hidden. We need to see it now.
It’s pretty obvious that the PL stands to lose political mileage if it reveals whatever it’s concocting in the power station contract before the elections.
I have a morbid fascination to find out more about Labour’s staple diet of minestra, frejjeg and qassatat when the truth eventually comes out.
The PL’s road map is starting to take the form of a rather poor menu whose sole aim is to produce gas from the nether regions of whoever partakes of its fare.
Unfortunately we’re all being force-fed with this.
Let’s say it took the PN in government 25 years to start being arrogant. Labour took less than a year. The next four years are going to be bad.
I think the only reason why people join the Labour Party relatively late in life when they haven’t been brought up in Labour families (which has a deep and lasting influence) is because they are not thinking clearly, or have done something illegal but still want to be in politics because they think it’s fashionable.
It reminds me of the Mafia, you go there when you want protection – at a price, of course.
The sysematic denial of requests for information about things of clear public interest can only mean one thing, and that is third-world corruption.
As I have said before, the Sai Mizzi affair is indicative of the Labour mindset as regards placing one’s chin in the trough.
To me it’s only the tip of the iceberg and a distraction to greater ongoing underhand dealings in the energy sector.
Sai Mizzi? You have forgotten about World Bank blacklisted Shiv Nair being engaged as a consultant to Malta Enterprise, an engagement which Muscat later denied, just as he denied ever having met Nair.
Another definition in Labour’s dictionary of the absurd:
Transparency – the hiding of multi-million Euro agreements from parliament and the taxpayers.
The electorate needs to know the implications that this contract and that of Henley and Partners will have before we go to the polls.Let’s all insist on this in the coming week
Joseph Muscat’s cabinet ministers, like Mintoff’s, are rapidly becoming Their Master’s Voice. They cannot be trusted to answer parliamentary questions impromptu but must first consult with the PM before they open their mouth in public or even in parliament itself.
The Ministers are there to give Joseph the opportunity to speak with different mouths.
Ironically, they are also used as a human shield to stand between him and anyone criticising him in any way, much in the manner his famous rostrum shields him from any embarrassing questions.
Joseph Muscat does not care about anyone but himself. To me he seems to be deliberately seeking to humiliate others, including his ministers, interpreting that word in its true meaning: Minister = servant.
When the opinion piece by Noel Grima – linked below – was first published on The Malta Independent, I had quoted the following excerpt on this website and had remarked that it was absolutely true. Now I add that it was prophetic.
“In my book, however, to run a country on fear and fear alone will not work, not in the long term. People, key people, will focus more on keeping out of the leader’s way rather than on giving sterling work. Sooner or later, all activity will grind to a halt and everyone will look to the leader to lead. The followers will be vociferous in attacking presumed hostile persons, hoping to get Brownie points by that. But otherwise they will leave the business of managing the country, attaining goals and reaching targets to him and only as far as he allows them to do things.
This, of course, is a far cry from what parliamentary democracy is supposed to be about but this is Malta, a country of autocratic grand masters, ruthless governors, absolutist prime ministers who ran the country into the ground. We have been here already.”
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-03-09/opinions/an-exercise-in-superiority-4191027201/
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140515/azerbaijan-jails-opposition-journalist-eight-years
Konrad sounds like he is being elbowed out of something, somewhere. With his lack of communiction and the request to have questions put to him in writing, he sounds more like an army subordinate receiving doubtful orders from his superiors and asking for the orders in writing.
He is new to parliament but then come to think of it he has been on an elections campaign and 14 months in office. About time he started realising who is to be ASHAMED OF WHAT AND WHERE.