Labour MPs on Tuesday objected to police commissioner Angelo Gafa' being called to testify in a parliamentary committee's probe into the Electrogas power station contract.
In yet another two-hour wrangle about the witness list, Labour MP Alex Muscat argued that the National Audit Office’s probe into the contract had not found any criminal wrongdoing, therefore there was no need to summon Gafa'.
Auditor General Charles Deguara, whose report on the Electrogas contract the public accounts committee is examining, clarified that his office is not an investigative body.
Rather, its job is to scrutinise documents and procedures for any good governance failings.
“We are the national audit office, not the national investigations office,” Deguara said.
The auditor general also confirmed that all his office’s reports are sent to the police commissioner.
PAC chairman Darren Carabott, a PN MP, argued that it is in the public interest to establish whether the Electrogas contract is being investigated by the police.
Parliamentary Secretary Andy Ellul maintained that the committee has no remit to “investigate the police’s investigations”.
His colleague Glenn Bedingfield hinted that the Opposition seemed intent on prejudicing any police investigations that may be ongoing. PN MPs denied the claim.
The Opposition said it intends to ask Speaker Anġlu Farrugia for a ruling on whether Gafa' can be summoned.
The government side also objected to a proposal by the Opposition to summon former Enemalta board member Lara Boffa to testify before the committee.
Boffa was the only board member to vote against the contract being awarded to Electrogas in 2013.
Instead, Labour MPs argued that the board’s chairman, at the time Charles Mangion, should be summoned.
A compromise was eventually reached whereby all former board members will be summoned.
The committee also agreed to summon former finance minister Edward Scicluna, and Electrogas director Ray Fenech.
Fenech is the uncle of Daphne Caruana Galizia murder suspect Yorgen Fenech, who was the lead director during the early stages of the power station project.