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5 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 24 JUNE 2020 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Asked whether he will adopt a sim- ilar stand on Joseph Muscat, Abela said the situation was different. "Konrad Mizzi had a connection with the Panama Papers and 17 Black. Joseph Muscat had no such accusations and his mistake was not to remove Mizzi and Keith Schembri in 2016 when the Panama connection came to the fore. For that he already paid a political price," Abela said. He also ruled out an early election. It was Mizzi who went public with his defiance in a Facebook post early on Tuesday. Mizzi denied having had a person- al interest in the Montenegro wind farm project, insisting the invest- ment ensured Enemalta continued to benefit from a return until this day. However, he gave no explanation as to how Enemalta paid three times more for the shareholding to a com- pany, which was linked to Fenech's 17 Black. The Montenegro wind farm project is subject to a police investigation. Mizzi has always denied any knowl- edge and connection to 17 Black de- spite his accountants listing it as a target client in bank account opening forms for his Panama company. Miz- zi has always claimed the inclusion of 17 Black was a mistake by his advi- sors, Nexia BT. The former energy minister had re- vealed on his Facebook that the Prime Minister had asked me not remain part of the PL parliamentary group. "While I respect him and the work he is doing for this country, I did not agree that I should resign over alle- gations and speculations pushed for- ward by the PL's adversaries," Mizzi wrote. He insisted that he did not agree with resigning before being given the opportunity to be heard and defend themselves. "The democratic and modern credentials of the PL demand a better process," Mizzi said. He insisted that investiga- tions will prove him right, adding that he agreed that investigations should be car- ried out expeditiously. "I insist that Enemal- ta publicly divulge all the project's details. Until now it has not done so," Mizzi said. He insisted that he will continue to defend himself, while pledging "absolute loyalty" to the PL and the constituents that elected him to par- liament. The showdown with Mizzi is ex- pected to cause friction within the PL rank and file, espe- cially in the Fourth District, where the MP has his electoral base. Abela rules out early election Robert Abela: 'We are setting the highest standards' ENEMALTA has denied any knowledge of 17 Black's involvement in the 2015 deal through which it bought the Mozura wind farm in Montenegro. The company said due diligence of the project and its financial viability carried out by Shanghai Electric Power, the lead inves- tor, and its international external legal and financial advisors did not flag 17 Black's in- volvement. "None of the individuals/company men- tioned in your press reports featured in the said due diligence reports provided to En- emalta," the company told MaltaToday in replies to questions sent to it on Tuesday. Enemalta was asked about revelations last week that murder suspect Yorgen Fenech's 17 Black company had profited from the deal. "While Enemalta was completely unaware of the bank transfer transactions and possi- ble criminal acts by third parties as referred to in your press reports, it has nonetheless commissioned an internal investigation and also asked the police to investigate the mat- ter," the company said, adding its director were committed to provide the fullest sup- port possible to the investigative authori- ties. A journalistic investigation has revealed how Cifidex, a company registered in the Seychelles, had bought all the shareholding in the wind farm project from Spanish firm Fersa Renovables. Cifidex paid €2.9 million for the shares and reportedly got the money through a business loan from 17 Black. However, a few weeks later, Cifidex sold all its shareholding to Enemalta for €10.3 million, more than three times the price it had paid. Cifidex eventually paid back the €3 million loan and an additional "profit share" of €4.6 million to 17 Black, according to multiple sources who spoke to Reuters and Times of Malta. The revelations have cost former energy minister Konrad Mizzi a place in the La- bour Party parliamentary group after he refused Prime Minister Robert Abela's re- quest to resign. The PL executive on Tuesday evening vot- ed to remove Mizzi from the parliamentary group. No explanation for inflated price tag Enemalta was unable to explain the inflat- ed price tag at which it bought the Mozura shares from Cifidex. However, the company insisted the price was agreed by all four members of the con- sortium and not Enemalta alone. The oth- er investors were Shanghai Electric Power, Vestigo Capital Advisors, based in the UK, and Envision Energy. "Enemalta made a separate objective anal- ysis of the due diligence reports and rec- ommendations provided to it by Shanghai Electric Power before it decided to be one of the investors in the project," the compa- ny said. It added that apart from the price, Ene- malta also separately negotiated with the consortium members a guaranteed equity internal rate of return on this investment. This was eventually set at 9.4%. The guar- anteed return was committed to by Shang- hai Electric Power as the majority investor and Envision Energy. Enemalta clarified that it had appeared on the deal with Cifidex because the arrange- ments to form the consortium had not been done yet, insisting that it only paid €3.5 mil- lion to secure the investment. "Since the consortium's financial struc- tures had not yet been fully established by October 2015, Enemalta paid €3.5 million to secure the acquisition of the Mozura Wind Farm from Cifidex at a final price of €10.3 million. The €10.3 million was not to be paid by Enemalta but rather by the new consortium," the company said. Enemalta made profit from sale of its shares Enemalta said that despite initial discus- sions required Enemalta to only hold an in- direct investment in the project through its 30% shareholding in International Renewa- ble Energy Development Limited (the other 70% are held by Shanghai Electric Power), in 2016 Enemalta agreed to retain a 10% direct shareholding in the project, after a request by the government of Montenegro. "This was acceded to by Enemalta after it considered the potential rate of return of the project. This resulted in Enemalta hav- ing an effective shareholding (direct and in- direct) in the Mozura project of 28.9%," the company said in its reply. It added that the portion payable by Ene- malta amounted to €2.977 million. "This is nowhere near the €10.3 million as quoted in the media, with the difference between the €3.5m actually paid and the €2.977 million which was payable, having been reimbursed to Enemalta by the other consortium members," the company said. The company referred to its annual ac- counts for 2015 in which the 100% share purchase in Mozura was listed as an "asset for sale" since the other consortium mem- bers would eventually acquire their respec- tive shareholding. The audited accounts for 2017 also show that when Enemalta sold 90% of its share- holding to the other consortium members it also made a profit of €811,000 on the sale. Direction to invest came from government Asked who had given Enemalta direction to invest in the wind farm, the company said that it was informed by "the government of Malta" that in March 2014 the government and Shanghai Electric Power had agreed to collaborate in order to identify projects of renewable energy in the European region. The Mozura Wind Farm project was one of the projects which was subsequently identified as having potential. The company did not specify who gave it political direction but the energy minister at the time was Konrad Mizzi. The accountants to Mizzi and Keith Schembri, chief of staff to prime minister Joseph Muscat, had listed 17 Black as a tar- get client in bank account opening forms for the Panama companies the pair set up after the 2013 general election. Schembri testified in court this week that it was his intention to do business with Yor- gen Fenech after he exited politics, which is why 17 Black was listed as a target client. Enemalta denies knowledge of 17 Black involvement in Montenegro wind farm, internal investigation underway