Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1508472
4 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 27 SEPTEMBER 2023 4 MARIANNA CALLEJA LABOUR Party president Ra- mona Attard and deputy leader Daniel Micallef repeatedly re- fused to respond to questions regarding the party membership status of former MP Silvio Grixti after the social benefits scandal. Despite persistent question- ing during a party press confer- ence on Tuesday, both Attard and Micallef ignored journal- ists' questions on Grixti's place in the party after he reportedly helped people obtain fraudu- lent social benefits. Earlier this month, the Times of Malta reported how fam- ily doctor Silvio Grixti pro- vided false medical docu- mentation to assist people, often residing in Labour Party strongholds, to fraudulently obtain monthly social benefits meant for people with severe disabilities. The scheme enabled claim- ants to receive monthly pay- ments, averaging around €450, from the social security depart- ment. Some individuals implicated in the scheme have told police investigators that they were di- rected to Grixti by various in- dividuals, including a Labour minister, a now-deceased PL MP, ministers' aides, and cus- tomer care officials from the Prime Minister's office. When asked about whether the Labour Party is conduct- ing its own investigations and considering non-official par- ty members who might be in- volved, Attard clarified that investigations are solely being carried out by the police. "There are ongoing investi- gations, which are being han- dled by the police. It is certain that the focus should not be on these vulnerable people, which some of them actually are, and still require our attention," At- tard said. She recalled how both the Prime Minister and the Min- ister for Social Policy both ad- dressed the issue. "I am confident in the inves- tigations... If there are systems that need to be changed, they will be changed," Attard added. PL officials evade questions on Silvio Grixti party membership Social benefits scandal Labour Party's two highest officials remain silent on former MP Silvio Grixti's party membership status Labour Party deputy leader Daniel Micallef with president Ramona Attard (Photo: Partit Laburista) MATTHEW VELLA FORMER prime minister Jo- seph Muscat refused to be drawn into political questions from the Opposition for his re- action to a public designation by the United States Depart- ment of Treasury against his former allies Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri over suspected corruption in the award of the Electrogas plant. Muscat, who appeared for the fifth time in the public accounts committee discussing the find- ings of the NAO report into the Delimara gas plant tender, said he had no comment to make about the designation of his for- mer energy minister and former right-hand man, respectively Mizzi and Schembri. "Looks like the US govern- ment knows something that I don't know about… but this happened in 2021, when I had already resigned. Do you think that if I ask the US government about third parties, I would be told?" he responded when PAC chairman Darren Carabott prodded him. "I am not the prime minister. Why would Robert Abela make contact with me about this? Had the accusation been made about me, I would perhaps have ex- pected the government to speak to me…" Muscat insisted that any alle- gations made about government officials with respect to the pro- curement of the €200 million gas plant from Electrogas, were dealt with by the authorities. "It was not my role as prime minis- ter to take such steps… I left it up to the authorities. Indeed, it was the FIAU's reports on this matter that got leaked to the press…. the authorities were in- vestigating, as the Opposition's fanfare on the leaked reports show." Muscat resigned his role as PM and Labour leader in De- cember 2019 following the arrest of Tumas boss Yorgen Fenech on charges of having masterminded the assassina- tion of journalist Daphne Caru- ana Galizia – the accusation is that Fenech, a shareholder of Electrogas, wanted Carua- na Galizai silenced. That same month, Muscat was designated as 'Corrupt Person of the Year' by the crime journalism consor- tium OCCRP. Speaking to the PAC, the former prime minister claimed the designation was an eleventh-hour 'accolade' made after an unspecified group's lob- bying with OCCRP. "It makes my life a bit more of a misery because I have to present my justifications for that mention every time I undergo some form of due diligence." Muscat once again mounted a regular defence of the procure- ment of the Delimara gas plant from the Electrogas consorti- um, specifying that state utility Enemalta had also, for the first time in years, registered profits throughout 2015 and 2018. He said the winning consor- tium of Electrogas had a com- bined net asset value of €36 billion at the time of the tender award, far higher than procure- ment requirements and surpass- ing the negative net asset value that one its now former partner, Gasol plc, had at the time. Muscat also said that Enemal- ta was at one point faced with the prospect of taking on the gas plant project, when costs for Electrogas had skyrocketed over delays in obtaining a security of supply and green light from the European Commission. Muscat said Electrogas's costs had ballooned from €350 mil- lion to €500 million over the purchase of storm-mooring equipment required for the floating storage regasification unit. The delays in negotiations re- duced Electrogas's internal rate of return (IRR) from 11% to 6%, risking its profitability. "Critics might say these are the prob- lems of the consortium, not the government's. But there was a do-or-die situation: either the consortium keeps going, or else stops, and hands over the pro- ject to Enemata, keeping the money it is owed." Muscat said Electrogas's busi- ness model was pegged on mak- ing its money from the differ- ence between the guaranteed and actual heat rate: a power station, like any machine, loses efficiency with higher tempera- tures, so the profitability of such a project was based on the dif- ference between the guaranteed heat rate, and the actual heat rate. "Enemalta had to either choose if it would take over the project or ensure bankability for 'Corrupt' moniker gives PAC grilling of former Labour prime minister on Electrogas procurement continue Former prime minister Joseph Muscat testifies at the PAC "Looks like the US government knows something that I don't know about… but this happened in 2021, when I had already resigned. Do you think that if I ask the US government about third parties, I would be told?"