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2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella MANAGING EDITOR Saviour Balzan Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 JANUARY 2020 24 January, 2010 Shipyards sale tagged at measly €5.7m offer GOVERNMENT is expected to announce the closure of the sale of Malta Shipyards Ltd for €5.7 million to Neapolitan firm Palumbo S.p.A., with the added possibility of entrenching the superyachts section in the deal. MaltaToday understands the Italian firm signaled it would only go for the ship-repair facility if it is also granted the right to purchase the superyachts section. With five bidders in the running for the superyachts facility, two consortia chose not to purse their bid, leaving Palumbo and two other groups in the running. MaltaToday is informed that the government will be author- ising Palumbo to join forces with one of these consortia. The Malta Shipyards privatisation is divided into four units: the ship-repair yard in Cospicua, the former Marsa shipbuilding yard, the superyachts facility in Cospicua, and the Manoel Island Yacht Yard. Preferred bidders for the Marsa and Manoel Island facilities were selected in June 2009. Last September, Palumbo was identified as the preferred bidder for the ship-repair facility, but the government announcement at the time fell short of disclosing any amounts offered. The fate of the superyachts section was never mentioned. But government sources have informed Mal- taToday that in the process of negotiation, the Italian firm made a condition that it would only go for the ship-repair facility if it is also granted the right to purchase the superyachts section. It is not yet understood whether the €5.7 mil- lion offer covers acquisition of both facilities, or just the ship-repair section. Confronted with the figure, a finance min- istry spokesperson told MaltaToday that no information can be divulged until the process is finalised. This newspaper is informed that prior to the negotiation that led to the €5.7 million offer, Palumbo's initial offer was even less – reported- ly up to €1 million lower. Palumbo was also one of five bidders interest- ed in the acquisition of the superyachts section. Melita Group and Spanish firm Astilleros chose not to pursue the bid, as did CMA- CGM... Quote of the Week The inevitable politicisation of public appointments Editorial THE appointment of Malta's police commissioner has always been the prerogative of the Prime Min- ister; but never before has the Prime Minister's control of institutions come under so much interna- tional scrutiny, as with the Panama Papers scandal of 2016. It was the revelation that Joseph Muscat's right- hand man Keith Schembri and his minister had opened secret companies in Panama, in the context of a global journalistic exposé, that led to what one might call the lack of appetite inside the police force for an effective criminal investigation into the Pana- ma Papers. It is clear, as revelations in the forthcoming weeks are sure to demonstrate, that there was an active campaign inside the Office of the Prime Minister to shield all the national projects steered by Keith Schembri, as well as his personal business interests, from any form of police scrutiny. Panama was book-ended by the existence of 17 Black, a Dubai firm owned by Yorgen Fenech, now charged as the mastermind in the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination. This business relationship is the enduring legacy of the Schembri-Fenech friend- ship, and the harrowing events that it allegedly gave rise to. Prime Minister Robert Abela has gone to some lengths in addressing a concern by the Venice Commission on the appointment of the police com- missioner: the new system would be a public com- petition in which the two most suitable candidates would be short-listed by the Public Service Com- mission, a constitutionally-appointed body which is appointed by the President on advice of the Prime Minister "in consultation" with the Opposition lead- er. The Prime Minister will retain the prerogative to select one of the two candidates shortlisted, to be presented to the House. Critics say the Prime Minister's influence on the selection of the PSC appointees could be prob- lematic, but Malta's PSC has always been staffed by veteran civil servants who served under various Nationalist and Labour administrations. Would the additional scrutiny of the President of the Republic offer a better guarantee of constitutional impartial- ity? Two academic points are pertinent at this stage. The first concerns the likelihood of politicised can- didatures from high-ranking police officers who are perceived to be Labour or Nationalist sympathisers. It will be an unavoidable reality that the men and women gunning for the job will be labelled by virtue of their known political sympathies, or worse, be- cause of their spousal or familial associations. The second point concerns the approval of the candidate by the House of Representatives. A simple majority would rubber-stamp the Prime Minister's choice; a two-thirds vote, as proposed in 2015 by the Nationalist Party, would require 46 MPs consenting. But even here, the radical divide between the PL and the PN in the House would mean that any can- didate chosen by the Prime Minister would not be approved under the two-thirds scenario. Indeed, as proposed by the PN, two rounds of two- thirds vote – during which one assumes the Prime Minister would try to placate the Opposition to present a candidate who enjoys universal support – would be followed by a simple majority 'decider'. Such a process was therefore proposed with the spirit of introducing moral pressure; but again, it is impossible to exonerate the Maltese political party from ulterior motives: such a long-drawn out process, involving three rounds of voting, would be manipulated to turn the appointment of a com- missioner of police into yet another cynical game of mudslinging, poisoning the trust the nation should have in the commissioner before their appointment. The intermediate stage, in which the prospective candidate is grilled before the parliamentary com- mittee for public appointments, should be an occa- sion in which Opposition MPs can put to the test the government's choice, making full use of the televised broadcast and media interest in Malta's first 'parlia- mentary-elected' commissioner of police. The fact remains, however, that Malta's public life should stop enduring excessive punishment because of the overweening influence of political parties, and their convenient scapegoating of anybody who does not share their political views or loyalties. It is time for MPs to show responsibility to their electors by truly assessing public appointments on an objective basis, and making that rigorous assessment count. If Abela's proposed system to appoint a new com- missioner is imperfect (though it is a radical depar- ture from the PM's absolute prerogative that must be commended), let intelligent debate put forward a course of action, without the need to undermine the trust this public appointment requires. "I feared leaks and didn't trust anyone, not even a messenger" Former FIAU director Manfred Galdes testifying in the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry MaltaToday 10 years ago