Economy Minister Chris Cardona yesterday admitted altering the criteria for a call for proposals to give legal assistance to the Privatisation Unit, but said he had every right to do so in order to protect the national interest.
In his reaction following a story published in The Sunday Times of Malta which revealed that the minister intervened to change the results of the technical selection process, Mr Cardona insisted he did not agree with the selection process used by former chairman Emanuel Ellul.
This was based on incorrect practices used by the previous administration, he said.
We wanted to make sure that more legal firms bid for this type of work
“We wanted to make sure that more legal firms bid for this type of work and not the selected few as used to happen in the past,” a visibly agitated minister said in response to questions from Times of Malta.
“That is why instead of giving a direct order, as I had every right to do, we opened up for more bids to be as transparent as possible,” he explained.
“Before, under the previous administration, millions’ worth of direct orders were awarded without anyone asking any questions,” he said.
“Now on a selection of a service worth just €30,000 we are being asked whether the minister should have intervened in the selection process.”
Although yesterday Mr Cardona said that his ministry had directed the Privatisation Unit to use different criteria in this selection, Times of Malta is informed that the minister’s orders were only given after he disagreed with the first selection made by a group composed by representatives of the Privatisation Unit, MIMCOL, the Lotteries and Gaming Authority and a representative of Mr Cardona.
According to the final report of the unit, which the minister yesterday insisted was only consultative, the Valletta law firm Filletti and Filletti topped the list of bidders for selection.
However, Mr Cardona disagreed with that choice and in an e-mail to Mr Ellul directed the unit to send him the bids to be re-evaluated and classified differently.
“The ministry is requesting to be provided with copies of the proposals submitted by the first seven ranked law firms being half of the bids received,” Mr Cardona told Mr Ellul.
“A revised methodology, encompassing both the financial and the non-financial issues, will be communicated to the PU (privatisation unit) with revised rankings, should it be the case,” Mr Cardona said.
Mr Ellul protested at the minister’s selection criteria and intervention.
In a letter explaining how the Filletti and Filletti bid was classified first, Mr Ellul – a former Central Bank governor – told Mr Cardona that “it is felt that if another scoring system were adopted there would be a considerable degree of subjectivity involved because the scores would be awarded, to a large extent, arbitrarily”.
Under the previous administration, millions’ worth of orders were awarded without anyone asking questions
“I leave it in your hands to decide how to proceed from now on,” Mr Ellul told the minister, distancing himself from the new selection methodology.
Despite Mr Ellul’s warning, Mr Cardona issued an order to grant the letter of engagement to Deguara Farrugia Advocates – a law firm which in the privatisation unit’s selection report did not place among the first three.
Mr Cardona yesterday admitted he disagreed with Mr Ellul on the selection method but reiterated that the latter’s resignation had nothing to do with this issue.
He said Mr Ellul was doing a sterling job and only stepped down for health reasons.
Mr Ellul tendered his resignation on May 13, four days after the minister’s order to choose a different law firm from the one selected by the unit.
Mr Ellul insists his resignation was for health reasons and he has declined to comment on the selection of legal assistance for his unit.
He also refuted the allegation that he had a heated argument with the minister during a private meeting or that he sent any written objection.
Mr Cardona yesterday insisted he had done nothing wrong in intervening in this selection process and that his direct order also had the approval of the Ministry of Finance.
Asked whether he had spoken to the Prime Minister on the issue, Dr Cardona said that Joseph Muscat had more important things to do than enter into the selection of which stationery or legal firm is used by his ministry or the privatisation unit.
“I didn’t feel the need at any time to speak to the Prime Minister on this,” he said when asked whether he and Dr Muscat spoke following The Sunday Times of Malta story.