Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/414558
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 12 NOVEMBER 2014 3 News Dragonara request testimony of Privatisation Unit chairman CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 The aim, Dragonara explained "was that of awarding the concession to Eden, whatever the offers." It added that the process was "reverse engineered" and the decision was taken before the process commenced. "For this to happen, the process had to have broad criteria and secrecy on the process and the result." Last week, Eden Leisure Group requested that a court refuse the ap- plication for a warrant of prohibitory injunction requested by Dragonara Gaming Ltd against the Privatisation Unit (PU). Eden Leisure Group said the in- junction was causing the company damages, and insisted that there was nothing strange or incorrect about them having been selected as the preferred bidder for a casino licence. Dragonara Gaming applied for the injunction last month, alleging flaws in the process which resulted in the proposal submitted by Eden Leisure Group being selected as the preferred bid for a new casino con- cession. Dragonara Gaming, which have a 10-year concession on the Dragonara Casino in St Julian's, were also select- ed for a second concession. But the company is contesting the decision by the PU's evaluation committee, saying that the original expression of interest was for one casino concession, and that its offer for an up-front cash offer was three times that offered by Eden Leisure. In its protest, Dragona Gaming requested that PU chairman Em- manuel Camilleri and Judge Geoffrey Valenzia, who chaired the technical committee, testify in court. The company has also demanded that all reports authored by the min- ister, the PU and all committees which participated in the process are presented as evidence to support their arguments, together with all correspondence related to the crite- ria and other relevant matters. The Labour government issued a concession for two casinos, one in Malta and the other in Gozo, back in 2013. Four companies collected doc- uments following the government's call for expressions of interest in the running of a casino in Gozo, while six companies collected documents related to a separate licence for the running of another casino in Malta. However, in October the govern- ment announced it was awarding two licences for the Malta casino, selecting Eden Leisure Group and Dragonara Gaming as the first and second ranked concessionaires, re- spectively. 'Such offers are unethical and immoral' – Montebello CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Monte- bello, who like Fr Fenech is also a Dominican, had previously denied allegations made in The Sunday Times of Malta that he was acting as an intermediary between a representative of one of the victims involved and an unidentified person who had offered to pay a six-figure sum for her silence. On Sunday, the STOM report- ed that the offer was communi- cated by Fr Montebello to Edgar Bonnici Cachia, who is assisting the victim, however following the story's publication, Monte- bello denied ever having acted as an intermediary. "I had not been in any way an intermediary in the mat- ter. What happened was that, while speaking with Edgar Bon- nici Cachia on the phone about some other matter, I mentioned in passing that it came to my at- tention that money had been of- fered to the alleged victim and that it had been refused. " The Dominican philosopher denied passing on any messages to Bonnici Cachia, or to anyone else, saying that he considered such offers to be unethical and immoral. In reaction to Montebello's clarification, The Times yes- terday published a transcript of the telephone conversation held between journalist Matthew Xuereb and the priest, in which the priest had said that he had spoken to Bonnici Cachia. Ac- cording to the transcript, Mon- tebello also said that he had met a married couple who had been asked to deliver a message to the victim. www.gourmettoday.recipes 'To safeguard democracy, other political parties have to be helped' – de Marco PN deputy leader questions whether proposed party financing law serves only to maintain 'status quo' enjoyed by the two major political parties MIRIAM DALLI PN deputy leader Mario de Marco de- livered a challenging speech in parlia- ment yesterday, questioning whether the proposed legislation to regulate party financing "serves only to sustain the status quo" of both Labour and PN. His comments were in stark contrast to other speeches by MPs from both sides of the House, which is currently debating a proposed party financing bill tabled by the government. So far, speeches have focused on the prop- erty owned by the Labour Party and the dire financial situation of the Na- tionalist Party. De Marco went a step further in ac- tually bringing in other political par- ties, mainly Alternattiva Demokra- tika, who despite never making it to parliament still had an important role to play in a democratic society, he said. "We all know that it is expensive for a political party to operate, irre- spective of how big it is. We all agree that it is expensive to run an electoral campaign, to advertise and to hold conventions. If we really have to help in the formation and operation of the political parties, we need not only regulate the income, but also the ex- penditure. "If we really believe in political and democratic development, we should also help those political parties who are not necessarily in a position to ob- tain these funds." He explained that most of the in- come of political parties was derived from – among others – membership fees, funding by organisations, dona- tions and commercial activities. "The question that legitimately fol- lows is why do business people finance a political party, and this draft legisla- tion attempts to answer this question, but not necessarily in a convincing way. "It is unfortunate that the question of public funding was dealt with from a partisan point of view without even discussing that public funding had nothing to do with accusing one party of being bankrupt or about how it op- erated." De Marco said that to help the for- mation of new political parties, public funding had to be discussed: "Yet we only spoke as if the PN's or Labour's status quo is ad aeternum. It is unfor- tunate that the debate in this Cham- ber limited itself to the two parties." He questioned whether the status quo was contributing to the "stagna- tion" in Malta's political system. "I fear that the debate has been widely tackled as if only Labour and PN existed in Malta and as if the po- litical landscape could never change… or that a change would necessarily not be good." De Marco said that even though Alternattiva Demokratika had failed to elect an MP ever since it was con- ceived, yet it still served important functions especially in its calls for transparency, accountability and its advocacy of environment protection. "Although a political party's goal is to lead a country, a political party which is not in government still car- ries out important functions. Once we agree that every political party has an important role to play, we have to see how to protect their contribution, ir- respective of which party it is." De Marco said that while a two-par- ty system had its advantages as it gave a sense of political stability and con- sistency, it also had its shortcomings. He argued that more political parties meant a stronger democracy. He confirmed that his party would be voting in favour of the bill. He however urged the government "to do more" to actually show that the legis- lation was not just about text. "The government has to accept that a Labour government in the past failed to distinguish between govern- ment and party and between govern- ment and state. There was blatant abuse of the requisition order and the present Labour administration must acknowledge this. If we are to have a level playing field, the Labour Party must return its 28 properties to the rightful owners." Nationalist MP Kristy Debono, in an earlier speech, reiterated the PN's call that the Labour government must re- turn these 28 properties, "22 of which should be returned to the public and six to their private owners". "The government should admit the mistakes of the past, return those properties, compensate the rightful owners and start a fresh page. Only then can we have an equal debate. But if it does not do so, it would only be agreeing with the injustices carried out in the past," Debono said. Other speeches were delivered by PN MPs Toni Bezzina and Clyde Puli and parliamentary secretary Ian Borg. Mario de Marco