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€0.90 WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION WEDNESDAY • 12 March 2014 • issue 355 • published every wednesday and sunday Newspaper post Editorial - PAGE 11 PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD OPPOSITION leader Simon Bu- suttil yesterday lashed out at Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of having failed to live up to his lofty pledges of meritocracy and transparency that saw him elected in 2013. In a mock-up of Labour's public consultation roadshow slogan 'A government that works' (Gvern li jahdem), the backdrop to Busuttil's press conference was the slogan 'A government that exploits you' (Gvern li jahdmek). Busuttil took Muscat to task over the removal of competent leaders in the civil service, saying per- manent secretaries and head of departments had been removed – "some of them vindictively" – and public appointments given to "friends from the inner core". The Nationalist leader made special mention of energy minis- ter Konrad Mizzi's wife Sai Mizzi, appointed as a Malta Enterprise investment envoy to Asia; former secretary-general Jason Micallef who was appointed chairman of the Valletta 2018 Foundation "to occupy a post he knows little of "; Labour MP Silvio Schembri, whom Busuttil accused of taking four salaries from the public service; the new Armed Forces commander Jeffrey Curmi, whom he said was a "personal friend" of the Muscat family; and Michelle Buttigieg, a business partner of Muscat's wife who was given a €60,000 salary as a tourism director for the Malta Tourism Authority to New York. "Muscat threw meritocracy out of the window, having removed people who had been appointed through competitive exams, to in- stead place people from inside the inner core," Busuttil said. PN leader insists that Muscat heads a government that exploits the people Busuttil hits out at Muscat for meritocracy record Shanghai Electric Power purchases BWSC plant MIRIAM DALLI CHINESESTATE owned company Shanghai Electric Power will be pur- chasing the BWSC plant for €220 mil- lion, €70 million of which will go for the conversion of the plant to gas. A separate €100 million by the Chi- nese subsidiary will be used as capital injection into Enemalta plc, a company that will not be set up by a parliamen- tary act. The capital injection will be an investment in the distribution sys- tem, the state corporation's bleeding ground. The total €320 million investment by Shanghai Electric Power does not in- clude two joint venture projects to be carried out by the Maltese government and the Chinese company. The Chinese investment will see China owning a 33% stake in the cor- poration, while Enemalta's debts will be halved. Yesterday, Enemalta chairman Charles Mangion and Wang Yundan, chairman of the board of directors at Shanghai Electric Power, signed the €320 million equity investment. According to Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi, Enemalta's debts would stand at €300 million of which €100 million would be shouldered by Shanghai Elec- tric Power. "Shanghai Electric Power will carry its weight and government guarantees committed for the state corporation will reduce drastically. At the end, the government will be carrying around €200 million in debts," he said. Mizzi said the BWSC's debts will be paid in full: the Chinese company will transfer the money to Enemalta and En- emalta would then transfer the share- holding asset. An associate company will be set up. Addressing parliament, Mizzi ex- plained that yesterday's agreement signed with the subsidiary of China Power Investment Corporation was a head of terms agreement stipulating fu- ture projects and equity. Shareholding agreements and other technical agree- ments will be finalised between now and September. The final agreement will be presented to Parliament for parliamentary ap- proval. Changes to the Enemalta Act – possible through parliament – will also take place. CONTINUES ON PAGE 5 CONTINUES ON PAGE 5 According to Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi, Enemalta's debts would stand at €300 million of which €100 million would be shouldered by Shanghai Electric Power Simon Busuttil took Joseph Muscat to task over the removal of competent leaders in the civil service Court pg 4 • Presidency pgs 7-9 • Libya back page • Sports pgs 21-23