Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1544871
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 MAY 2026 NEWS ELECTION 2026 CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 The prime minister said he discarded the proposal but stopped short of mentioning the smuggler by name. When pressed over the matter, Ab- ela refused to say when and where he met the smuggler and whether he reported the matter to the police. PN leader Alex Borg made a sworn declaration denying ev- er meeting with a fuel smuggler or criminal over the fuel hub proposal and insisted the alle- gations were intended to harm his reputation. Borg has repeat- edly challenged the prime min- ister to go to the police with the information. 'I am the smuggler' On Friday, the prime min- ister tried to kill the story by saying that he will only name the smuggler if the PN reveals who its experts on the fuel hub are. Borg's immediate reply was that he will not reveal who is experts are because he did not want the government to carry out a witch hunt. But at least one expert has fronted the pro- posal—maritime engineer Oli- ver Cini, who is also a new PN candidate. On Friday, Cini hit back at Abela's allegations with a twist of sarcasm. "I am the smug- gler," he told Nationalist sup- porters in Luqa, urging them not to be afraid of standing up to those in power. "It is them who should be afraid of us," he said. Meanwhile, the prime min- ister's bombshell even caught Deputy Prime Minister Ian Borg off-guard. When asked on Thursday by MaltaToday whether his boss should have reported the fuel smuggler to the police, Borg waffled and at one point even called it "a non-story". It looked like an attempt to put distance between himself and the prime minister's alle- gations. But Borg's statement exposed the lack of strategy behind the prime minister's de- cision to bring into the picture "Malta's biggest fuel contra- bandist". The sources told MaltaToday Borg was being cautious not to wade into a controversy he had no prior knowledge of. The prime minister does ap- pear to have met the smuggler since he produced what was al- legedly the presentation given to him by this person. So far, no proof exists that the same criminal met Borg or anyone in the PN. An idea floated in the past But the idea of shifting in- dustrial activity offshore, par- ticularly to Hurd's Bank, is not something new. Only last year, former Transport Malta CEO Jonathan Borg rekindled an idea he first floated in 2013 for an artificial island at Hurd's Bank that would serve as a cen- tre for industrial and maritime uses. In 2014, Enemalta had ac- knowledged that it considered locating the liquefied natu- ral gas floating storage vessel outside Marsaxlokk Bay when drawing up plans for the new gas-fired power station. How- ever, it had discarded the op- tion because of higher costs, lengthier implementation pe- riods and increased security of supply risks. At the time there were on- ly two LNG floating storage vessels with regassificators on board in the Mediterranean Sea, making the offshore op- tion somewhat of a novelty. Since then, there are more than 15 regasification plants operat- ing in the Mediterranean. Spain leads the way with seven termi- nals, followed by Italy, France, Greece, Turkey and Egypt. The PN's proposal is to have a bunkering hub at Hurd's Bank for alternative fuels, including LNG, which would also sup- ply the Delimara power station complex with gas. This would enable the gas tanker moored permanently in Marsaxlokk Bay to sail away. But relocating the power sta- tion's LNG supply offshore car- ries with it additional security risks, which the PN has so far failed to address. Suffice to say that only last year an activist ship was hit by Israeli drones while anchored at Hurd's Bank just outside Maltese territorial waters. Abela refuses to say when and where he met the smuggler or if he reported the matter to the police PN candidate and maritime engineer Oliver Cini (right) with PN MPs Ivan Castillo (centre) and Toni Bezzina, presenting the bunkering hub idea The prime minister does appear to have met the smuggler since he produced what was allegedly the presentation given to him by this person. So far, no proof exists that the same criminal met Borg or anyone in the PN Prime Minister Robert Abela made the fuel smuggler claim shortly after attending the ceremony where a €150 million investment by a medical technology firm was unveiled, effectively torpedoing the good news (Photo: DOI)