Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1324024
ONE question many in Malta ask is: how did Yorgen Fenech amass so much power in the space of these last few years? It would seem that the reason be- hind such a fast-tracked rise to power is linked to his having lit- erally occupied the corridors of political power, those of Castille. To date, at least ten persons based in Castille have been identified as having had some sort of relationship with Yor- gen Fenech or his henchmen. Of course, Yorgen and his Electro- gas partners, Gasan and Apap Bologna, had already prepared the groundwork on their grand project before the March 2013 elections. So, as soon as Mus- cat's PL got into power, the grand scheme concocted at the expense of the Maltese taxpayer and, later, at the cost of Daph- ne's life was put into practice. On 11 April 2013, Enemalta, headed by the PL apparatchik Frederick Azzopardi, published a call for Expressions of Inter- est and Capability (EoIC) for the supply and delivery of natural gas and electricity. Following the shortlisting of candidates, Ene- malta issued a Request for Pro- posals (RfP) on 6 July 2013. On 12 October 2013, the ElectroGas Malta Consortium was selected as the preferred bidder. At this stage, Fenech started frequenting the Castille corri- dors with astounding assiduity. On 16 October, Yorgen Fenech had his first officially registered meeting in Castille with Minis- ter Konrad Mizzi. Twelve days later, he met Keith Schembri in Castille. Between 31 October and 3 December, Yorgen had another five meetings with Kon- rad Mizzi. Having obtained the Electrogas deal that was to skin the Maltese taxpayer to the bone was not enough to quench the insatiable greed of the Tumas-Gasan Con- sortium. Between 25 November 2013 and 24 January 2014, the government launched a public consultation on the Planning Policy Guide on the Use and Ap- plicability of the Floor Area Ratio (FAR). This is the policy which specifies which zones may have high-rise buildings (those over 10 storeys) built upon them. The draft of the document presented for public consultation did not include Mriehel as an appropri- ate area for high rise buildings. Yorgen Fenech, who in the new year of 2014 had already met in Castille Konrad Mizzi twice and Keith Schembri once, decided to go and visit parliamentary secretary for planning Michael Farrugia, always at Castille, on 5 March 2014. It was a short meet- ing that lasted only 26 minutes, between 9:27am and 9:53am. A few hours later, if not minutes, the parliamentary secretary re- sponsible for planning sent a let- ter to the CEO of the Planning Authority, Johann Buttigieg, re- questing the locality of Mriehel to be inserted in the policy as an appropriate one for high-rise buildings. All this was done two months after the closing date of the public consultation and the let- ter was not made public at the time, so the public had no idea that Mriehel would be includ- ed in the policy. Two and a half months later, on 24 May 2014, the Planning Policy Guide on the Use and Applicability of the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) was ap- proved… with the inclusion of Mriehel as an appropriate area for high rise buildings. The public outcry was ex- tremely loud, and the general public were not the only ones to sound their voice. In fact, on 25 June 2014 the Planning Om- budsman, architect David Pace, criticised the inclusion of Mrie- hel in the FAR Policy, stating that it had been done by stealth and without allowing the public to make representations regard- ing the same. In the meantime, in this March- June 2014 period, Yorgen Fenech had had another eight meetings with Konrad Mizzi and three with Keith Schembri, always in Castille. Mriehel was a mis- sion half accomplished. Until it was fully accomplished, energy was dedicated to the Electrogas scam: on 9 May 2014 the Elec- trogas Contract was signed; in mid-2014 government's involve- ment in assisting Electrogas to secure financing for the project first emerged, when it became evident that to obtain funding, the Security of Supply Agree- ment (SSA) whereby the govern- ment would assume Enemalta's role in the supply agreements in particular circumstances, was to be in effect. Until the European Commis- sion's clearance of the SSA in terms of state aid, government consented to provide a guar- antee to assist Electrogas. Gov- ernment guarantees were en- tered into with respect to the €110,000,000 bridge loan facili- ty, later revised to €450 million. Having wrangled the govern- ment guarantee of nearly half a billion euro for Electrogas, Yor- gen Fenech again turned his at- tention to the Mriehel high-rise swindle. A meeting was held in Castille with Konrad Mizzi on 28 July. On 16 September 2014, Tumas Gasan Holdings filed an application PA 581/16 for four high-rise skyscrapers – the Quad Towers. On 4 August 2016, the Planning Board of the Planning Authority approved PA581/16. Second mission fully accomplished for Yorgen. On 28 October, Yorgen had another meeting with Konrad Mizzi. A few weeks later, in December 2014, Yorgen Fenech showed his "generosity" when he gave Prime Minister Joseph Muscat a Bulgari watch estimated to cost some €20,000. And, in January 2015, Yorgen Fenech had his final official meeting at Castille with Konrad Mizzi. The scandalous dealings of the Electrogas deal were denounced by many. On 30 July 2015 the National Audit Office (NAO) was requested to investigate the process leading to the award and the contracts entered into by Electrogas with government and Enemalta. In its report, finalised in 2018, the NAO pointed out inconsist- encies: different measures had been applied for different pro- ject bidders. The NAO raised concerns about how the govern- ment had agreed to buy 85 per cent of the Electrogas produc- tion, whatever the cost, for 18 years, even though energy could be sourced at a cheaper rate elsewhere. The end result was that the Maltese taxpayer was buying gas at double the cost, from Socar via Shell, instead of directly from Shell, thus leaving enormous profit margins for Electrogas. 12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 JANUARY 2021 Prof. Arnold Cassola is an independent politician and an academic OPINION Arnold Cassola Yorgen Fenech and the Castille gang