Every single agreement and contract led by Joseph Muscat or Konrad Mizzi should be investigated for potential corruption, the Nationalist Party believes.
PN MP Mark Anthony Sammut said that all energy-related government contracts, agreements and reports should be made public, to end the “culture of secrecy” that pervades Maltese politics.
In the case of contracts involving Muscat and Mizzi, those deals should also be investigated, he said.
Muscat served as prime minister between 2013 and early 2020, when he resigned in disgrace following national anti-corruption protests.
Mizzi served as his energy and health minister and was responsible for some of the largest public contracts awarded in Maltese history, including a power station deal to the Electrogas consortium, an Enemalta deal to build windfarms in Montenegro and the privatisation of three state hospitals.
Each of those deals has been tainted by corruption allegations.
Among the deals signed during the Muscat years was one between Mizzi’s energy ministry and Azeri fuel traders SOCAR. That deal, concerning the security of supply of LNG to fuel the Electrogas power station, was never made public or discussed in parliament.
On Sunday, the Daphne Foundation announced that it has won a legal battle to obtain a copy of that contract. The Information and Data Protection Commissioner decided that the Environment and Energy ministry must grant it a copy of that deal.
The foundation suspects that the deal could reveal secret – and unlawful – state aid that Malta is granting SOCAR.
Its attempts at getting a copy of the deal through a Freedom of Information request ran into a brick wall, with the government refusing the request without properly explaining why. The foundation then took the battle to the IDPC.
The data protection commissioner has noted that the FOI law is not working as originally intended and said it should be revised.
The Environment and Energy Ministry is currently headed by Miriam Dalli, who worked for Konrad Mizzi as a consultant during his time as minister.
In his statement, Sammut, who serves as the PN spokesperson for energy, said that the energy sector Dalli leads “can no longer continue with this culture of secrecy”.
“Every agereement, contract and report should be published,” he said.
Sammut said it was “ironic” how Dalli and the prime minister, Robert Abela, had boasted about this security of supply deal “but then tried to keep it hidden.”
“If they are so proud of it, they should have no problem with publishing it,” Sammut said.