Former Electrogas director Paul Apap Bologna travelled to Azerbaijan with alleged Daphne Caruana Galizia murder conspirator Yorgen Fenech.

Testifying before the Public Accounts Committee on Wednesday, Apap Bologna said that he had travelled to the Azeri capital of Baku to attend the wedding of Socar Trading’s head of LNG trading Turab Musayev. He did not give a date for his trip.  

The Azeri national had resigned from the power plant project soon after Fenech was charged with his alleged role in the 2017 assassination of Caruana Galizia, who was investigating suspected corruption in the power plant deal.

During questioning from Opposition MP Karol Aquilina, Apap Bologna said his travels to Baku had nothing to do with the power station investment.  

He later conceded that it was to attended a large wedding of one of the key players in the project.  

The line of questioning drew outrage from Apap Bologna’s lawyer Gianella de Marco who deemed the matter “silly”. Aquilina however, was quick to shoot down her remarks, saying he would “rather be silly than be a mercenary”.  

Government members of the committee quipped that the next questions would be about what he ate and drank at the gathering. 

No reply on resignation

Earlier during the sitting, Apap Bologna declined to answer questions about his recent resignation from the Electrogas board which runs the gas-fired power plant.

His resignation came after he was outed by Times of Malta as the owner of a secret company in the United Arab Emirates. He remains a director and shareholder of GEM Holdings, the umbrella company for the local shareholders in the Electrogas project.

In the face of a barrage of questions about his resignation, Apap Bologna  declined to answer, repeating the phrase “I avail myself to my right to silence”. 

There is no right to silence in judicial spheres, although witnesses have the right to not reply to questions if they could incriminate themselves by doing so. 

The PAC is investigating a 2018 National Audit Office (NAO) report into the Electrogas deal which had flagged “multiple similarities” in the presentation about the project circulated by Apap Bologna and the eventual project undertaken by the Labour government in 2013.

'Intimidated' by questions

Much of the sitting was taken up by bickering between Aquilina and de Marco, who argued, on her client’s behalf, that many of the questions being put were out of order.  

At one point Apap Bologna said he felt intimidated by the way questions were being put to him and was not comfortable with the PAC proceedings. Despite his remarks, he was nonetheless ordered to submit to questioning.  

Leafing through the reams of paperwork submitted to the committee, Apap Bologan detailed how Yorgen Fenech had received a €1 million success fee from Electrogas for his “hands-on” work getting the project off the ground. 

The payment was made to Fenech’s company New Energy Supply Ltd. 

Apap Bologna insisted he had not received a cent from the project as the business plan dictated that he only start earning profits after a number of years.  

The hearing will continue at a later date.

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