Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/181770
10 News maltatoday, SUNDAY, 29 SEPTEMBER 2013 Gonzi put pressure on MT editor not to disclose surveys Three bid Who will be Malta's energy partner for the next 18 years? JAMES DEBONO asks in his analysis of the three remaining bidders expected to deliver Labour's electoral promise of cheaper and cleaner energy WITH the big multinationals giants like Anglo-Dutch multinational Shell, the French Soffimat, the South Korean Daewoo and the Italo-French Edison axed from the original list of 19 bidders, only three relatively obscure consortia remain in the bidding for a contract to supply Enemalta with gas for 18 years through the development of Malta's first privately owned power station. Two of the three remaining bidders have a direct Maltese connection; ElectroGas through the participation of Tumas and Gasan groups – in a consortium which includes the State energy company of Azerbaijan – and Electro Gas Consortium Electro Gas Malta is the only company which includes direct Maltese participation through GEM Holdings – a company owned by Gasan Group Limited and Tumas Group Limited. Tumas Group is no stranger to joint bids with foreign companies. In 2006, Tumas Group had teamed up Portek Group of Singapore to form Valletta Gateway Terminals, which won the bid for the liberalised port services. In 2009, Tumas Group teamed up with Arriva to win the bid for the liberalised public transport system. Tumas Group was instrumental in securing Arriva, the Chinese build bus fleet, Saviour Balzan has insisted in court that he was leaked a story by Edgar Galea Curmi (right) in 2008 FORMER prime minister Lawrence Gonzi personally asked MediaToday Managing Editor Saviour Balzan to refrain from publishing an election survey on the eve of the 2008 national election. Balzan, while giving testimony in court this week, added that the PM's personal assistant Edgar Galea Curmi had also approached him with information containing confidential medical files about an individual. Galea Curmi has sued for libel over a newspaper report and an opinion piece by Balzan about the coincidence in the way former PN councillor Cyrus Engerer's father was arrested on possession of cannabis shortly after Engerer defected from the Nationalist Party to the Labour Party in 2011. Balzan spoke about the strain on his relationship with Galea Curmi. Galea Curmi had leaked a story to Balzan about Alternattiva Demokratika Chairperson Harry Vassallo's pending VAT return, the editor said under oath "Our working relationship went from good to bad," Balzan said. "But as journalists, it's accepted that one retains a working relationship with the PM's personal assistant." The relationship improved following the resignation of the PM's spokesperson, Alan Camilleri. At one point, Balzan was also invited to the prime minister's official summer residence in Girgenti. Polling problems Prior to the 2008 elections, Balzan was invited to meet Gonzi at Castille. There, Gonzi asked Balzan to consider refraining from publishing election surveys, "because they could cost the PN a re-election," Balzan said in court. "[Then-prime minister] Gonzi asked me not to publish surveys showing the PN's slight majority, because it might send a message to angry Nationalist voters not to come out and vote. He said a win for Labour would lie heavy on my conscience." Balzan then added that in July 2011, just days after Nationalist local councillor Cyrus Engerer switched to Labour, his father was arrested on cannabis possession. "I was not aware of the friendship Galea Curmi actually had with the Engerer family, so when I got to know that he had spoken with the police commissioner, it made me wonder," Balzan said, referring to claims by John Rizzo during a press conference, which disclosed Galea Curmi's involvement in this case. Galea Curmi had leaked a story to Balzan about Alternattiva Demokratika Chairperson Harry Vassallo's pending VAT return, the editor said under oath. He added that the story eventually was published in In-Nazzjon, The Times and on the internet on the eve of the election, with the specific intention of causing maximum damage to AD. "A court decision to enforce the payments of these VAT obligations had actually been taken in 2006, but the police decided to enforce the court's decision on the eve of the elections. This was typical PN preelection panic over the threat of AD in the elections," Balzan explained. "And I was aware of these tactics – having been an AD official for nine years." Balzan said that in February 2008, Galea Curmi made an unsolicited call at Balzan's home in Naxxar, to inform him of the Vassallo story. "I did not invite Galea Curmi over as a friend. I have few friends, and the ones I have, I choose well. Vassallo is a friend. Had he had any sense, Galea Curmi would have never come to me with this story." Vassallo was "an honest, yet perhaps careless" man, Balzan told the court, adding that he had refused to publish the story, which ended up in The Times and the PN-controlled newspaper In-Nazzjon. A government messenger had also handed Balzan medical documents pertaining to Jo Said, a vocal critic of the PN administration. Balzan said that the documents were sent by Galea Curmi, adding that they were not published in MaltaToday. During cross-questioning by defence lawyer Joe Zammit Maempel, Balzan said that he was aware of Galea Curmi's communication with the former commissioner of police because it had been reported in other media, and Rizzo himself had held a press conference on the case. In a sudden loss of temper, Galea Curmi's defence counsel Zammit Maempel said the court had to find out who was lying: "It's either you or Galea Curmi, and we have to find out who. I will ask the court to run DNA tests on the documents Galea Curmi allegedly passed on to you... we'll run fingerprint tests, and DNA tests will show my client never touched those papers." Saviour Balzan reacted by informing the magistrate that he would not stand to be insulted in court. "I shoulder my responsibilities and pay for them, others do not." Turkish Yildirim through its ownership of the Freeport. The most surprising absentee among the final list of bidders is Edison, the second largest power producer in Italy and in Greece. The selection of this bidder would also have strengthened ties between Italy and Malta, which will also be linked with the Malta-Sicily interconnector. Moreover, a Malta-Italy oil and gas summit is due to take place in Rome on 31 October. Edison, a world player, also has direct experience in the LNG sector, operating an LNG off shore terminal in Rovigo in Italy. Interestingly, one of the three remaining bidders includes US interests that could balance the growing Chinese influence through the acquisition of part of Enemalta by a Stateowned Chinese company. The winner of the tender will provide natural gas at a fixed price for the first five years of an 18-year agreement. Enemalta, which will be partly Chinese-owned, will be committed to buy fuel from the company to fuel its own power station, while the new operator will also sell energy directly produced in its own power station. The new operator will own the LNG terminal providing gas for both power stations. This will practically put the fuel procurement process to an end, as the energy supply will be devolved to one company. but sold its shares a few months after the company-started operations in Malta. The consortium also includes Socar Trading SA, owned by the state oil company of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Siemens Project Ventures – a subsidiary of the German multinational engineering and electronics conglomerate – and UK-based Gasol Plc. Siemens was the manufacturer of the 132kV Switchgear for the BWSC plant in Delimara. Before the election, Evarist Bartolo had repeatedly questioned the participation of the company in the BWSC bid in a series of articles highlighting the company's questionable record. The company's track record included the conviction of a former manager by a Munich court in 2008. The man was sentenced to two years probation and fined €108,000. In 2009, the World Bank Group announced a comprehensive settlement with Siemens AG in the wake of the company's acknowledged past misconduct in its global business and a World Bank investigation into corruption in a project in Russia involving a Siemens subsidiary. The settlement included a commitment by Siemens to pay $100 million over the next 15 years to support anti-corruption work, an agreement to a debarment of up to four years for the company's Russian subsidiary and a voluntary two-year block from bidding on bank