The Nationalist Party hit out at the government on Wednesday after its representatives on the Public Accounts Committee voted against an opposition request to publish all contracts related to the Electrogas power station. 

The request was tabled by Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina during a presentation by the Auditor-General on his inquiry into the power station project.

The PN also observed that several questions which emerged from the Auditor-General's reports had remained unanswered.

"The position of the government MPs (on the committee) confirms yet again that the government wants to continue to hide the corruption of the Electrogas power station," the PN said.

It said the project was "rife with one scandal after another which involved illegalities, abuse of power and corruption by people in the highest echelons of power and top businessmen who were close tot he Labour Party."  

The 600-page report by the Auditor-General had flagged multiple instances of non-compliance in the requirements for Electrogas to win the bid to build a new gas-fired power station in 2013.

An assessment of the last two shortlisted bids was overseen by Nexia BT managing partner Brian Tonna, who is the subject of a police investigation into an alleged kickback on passport sales to former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri in 2015.

According to a “conservative estimate” by the National Auditor Office (NAO), energy generated by the Electrogas plant was on average €50.64 per unit more expensive than the Malta-Sicily interconnector.

Enemalta and the government have disputed the NAO’s estimates.

The NAO had said in a statement in December 2018 that it looked forward to clarifying “misconceptions” about the Electrogas report in parliament.