Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/829524
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 28 MAY 2017 6 News MIRIAM DALLI PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat has accused opposition leader Si- mon Busuttil of having pressured the Gonzi Cabinet into agreeing to a €5 million out-of-court settle- ment with oil company Shell, just weeks after he was appointed dep- uty leader of the Nationalist Party. Addressing a political activity in Qala, the Labour leader said that Busuttil – who had spent years rep- resenting Shell in its case against the government – had pushed for the settlement, just weeks before the 2013 election. "At the first opportunity where Busuttil could exert power, he pushed for the matter to be settled. And the [PN] Cabinet took a uni- lateral decision to give Busuttil's clients €5 million," Muscat said. The decision had been taken just days after MaltaToday published documents that showed that com- modities trader Trafigura had paid commissions to Enemalta consult- ant and former MOBC chief execu- tive Frank Sammut for the supply of oil to the national energy corpo- ration. The settlement came nine years after complaints were made by Shell in 2004, leading the European Commission to warn the Nation- alist administration in 2011 that it was "not ensuring independent verification of the separation" of fuel handling and storage facilities, while Enemalta – one of the suppli- ers of fuel handling services – was the manager of the storage and fuel supply facilities. The Labour leader accused his political rival of being "a hypo- crite", insisting that now that Bu- suttil knows that deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami is being in- vestigated in connection with the CapitalOne inquiry and allegations of drug money laundering, Busuttil was not asking for Fenech Adami's resignation. The board of inquiry tasked with investigating the way Maltese po- lice handled the CapitalOne money laundering case, declared it can- not exclude the possibility that the criminal investigation failed to gather steam when the name of Beppe Fenech Adami cropped up in January 2013. Muscat said that part of the re- port had been sealed and is being investigated. The Prime Minister also accused Busuttil of adopting two weights, two measures when his MPs are involved. "He started off by saying that it was unacceptable for an MP to hold companies abroad and that it didn't matter whether these had been declared; he yesterday denied that Mario de Marco holds a com- pany in Cyprus but this (yesterday) morning he said it was true, adding 'what's the big deal? The company was declared'." Muscat said that by Busuttil's own yardstick, both Fenech Adami and de Marco should be sacked on the spot – concurrently, the La- bour media published documents of a registered company. The company in question, Twin- kleday Limited, was set up in June 2013 for Irish entrepreneur Finian Lyden. The company's ownership is located in Cyprus, according to company registry records, and de Marco serves as a director. The political activity was also ad- dressed by now Labour candidate Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando in which he praised the measures delivered by the Labour government. "I have been working with Joseph Muscat for seven years now," Pullicino Orlando said, referring to the year when he tabled a private member's bill for the introduction of divorce. The former PN MP claimed to have an email which shows that a meeting was requested between Simon Busuttil and BWSC mid- dleman Joe Mizzi, who had been suspected of using his influence with government officers for the success of the BWSC tender for the Delimara power station extension. "I wish to know why the meeting was held and what was discussed during the meeting," Pullicino Or- lando said. JAMES DEBONO THE Planning Authority has delayed giving an answer to a question about the executive chairman's new salary, instead forwarding this newspaper to make a Freedom of Information request – a lengthier approach to obtaining this information. Instead of giving an immediate answer to this newspaper's ques- tion on the new salary of Johann Buttigieg, and the salaries paid to the chairman and members of the Environment and Planning Commission, the PA's spokesper- son suggested that MaltaToday should make "a request for this information under and through the procedures established by the Freedom of Information Act". MaltaToday has presented the request through the Freedom of Information Act. A decision on such requests has to be provided within 20 work- ing days from submission of the request, which means that the answer may be given after the general election. A refusal can be contested through a complaint, and a second refusal then for- warded to the Information and Data Protection Commissioner to review. The PA immediately answered similar requests made in the past regarding salaries paid to former PA executive officer Ian Stafrace and to Johann Buttigieg himself. In January, a PA spokesperson confirmed that the salary and al- lowances paid to the executive chairman of the Planning Author- ity "are still under discussion". MALTA POLICE DEPARTMENT EXPRESSION OF INTEREST 7/2017 The Commissioner of Police notifies that:- Proposals will be received by Email on Email address: tenderspolice.mhas@gov.mt by not later than 11.00 am on Friday 9 th June 2017 for :- EOI No: 7 /2017 - MEDICAL GENERAL PRACTITIONER SERVICES AT THE MALTA POLICE DEPARTMENT Details may be obtained by sending an Email request with the subject title "Request Form – MEDICAL GENERAL PRACTITIONER" on Email address: tenderspolice.mhas@gov.mt (Tel: 22942355) Proposals are to be submitted as in para 1 above with the subject title: "EOI Proposal – Medical General Practitioner" PA keeps cha salary under 'Busuttil influenced Cabinet for €5 million settlement' Million-euro Super 5 jackpot MATTHEW VELLA ONE of Malta's favourite lottery games, the Super 5, has once again reached the €1 million jackpot prize, a prospect which is sure to entice more punters to buy a ticket for this Wednesday's draw. Since 2012, the Super 5 Jackpot has reached the €1 million pot and been won five times already, namely in July 2012, April 2013, March 2014, December 2014, and Febru- ary 2017. As has happened on previous oc- casions, such a large draw tends to generate lottery fever, with many who would not normally buy a tick- et trying their luck. Elsewhere, Malta's election is also generating heightened activity on betting markets. The Maltese-owned Bimsports.eu is offering odds of a €1.20 for each €1 played on a Labour victory, and €4 for each €1 played on a National- Johann Buttigieg was receiving an annual salary of €60,000 before being appointed executive chairman