€37m Fairmount losses: PL demands responsibility

The Labour Party this evening called on the government to shoulder its political responsibility for the losses suffered by Malta Shipyards in two ship conversion contracts for the Fairmount company.

The PL was reacting to the report by PriceWateterhouseCoopers, published today by the Infrastructure Ministry.(see separate story)

It pointed out that just two days ago, the Infrastructure Ministry, which is also responsible for the shipyards, had defended its role in the running of public entities according to government priorities.

By the same yardstick, the PL said, the government had had a duty to ensure that the shipyard followed the government priorities, which in this case were to give the shipyard a viable future.

The PL recalled that when the Fairmount contracts were awarded, the government had boasted that this would be a turning point for the shipyard. Dr Gonzi and his government therefore had a duty to ensure that the contract was successfully executed.

But the contrary had happened, and Malta Shipyards ended up losing €37 million of taxpayers' money from the contracts.

Such losses demanded that political responsibility should be shouldered, the PL said.

The GWU in a separate statement noted that the report into the Fairmount contracts had been prepared by a company chosen by the minister, and its calls for a public inquiry had been rejected. The union reiterated its call for a public inquiry and said it was studying the report.