Shadow Justice Minister Jason Azzopardi has called for a police investigation into claims that Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services Clayton Bartolo might have been involved in a plan to rig a public tender for a prefabricated COVID-19 hospital.
Azzopardi had made claims of insider trading when the call for tender was issued in March, but the process had forged ahead after an investigation had concluded there was no wrongdoing.
A total of 21 bids were submitted ranging from €4 million to €29 million but the government eventually decided to ditch the entire project, saying there was no need for it.
The Opposition MP pointed his fingers towards Bartolo after a recent parliamentary question in which he asked the health minister if it was true that the parliamentary secretary had shown a “particular interest” in this tender even though it did not fall within Bartolo’s political portfolio.
The fact that in his reply Health Minister Chris Fearne confirmed the project had been shelved but did not deny Bartolo’s interest in the call was highly significant, Azzopardi said in parliament on Tuesday.
“The prime minister wants us to believe the call was cancelled as the need for this facility had gone, but the truth is that it was stopped after I sounded the alarm bells and in the wake of certain allegations made during a Cabinet meeting,” the MP remarked.
Throughout his address Azzopardi insisted he had no doubt on the personal integrity of both Finance Minister Edward Scicluna and Fearne, saying attempts to “make a quick buck” out of this tender were made behind their backs.
“What was described at the time as a very urgent project with tight timeframes, was all of a sudden dropped. I expect the police commissioner to take his duty seriously in line with the law and investigate,” he added.
The MP questioned why a few weeks before the issue of the call for tender a Maltese company by the name of TEC Ltd had contacted a German firm, Roder, for a quotation to build such a hospita. Azzopardi insisted that this company had close links to the Labour Party.
He pointed out that by law the police commissioner could launch an investigation even in the absence of a report or a criminal investigation.