Paul Apap Bologna, one of the shareholders of the Electrogas power station, insisted before a parliamentary committee on Wednesday that he did not discuss the power station proposal with Labour before the 2013 general election.

Testifying before the Public Accounts Committee, he described how he came up with a proposal for a gas-fired power station in 2006 and first discussed a joint venture with Yorgen Fenech and the Fenech Group in January 2013 when Labour, then in opposition, announced plans for a new energy infrastructure based on gas.

He went on to form the local GEM consortium which then attracted Gasol, Siemens and Socar to form Electrogas when a call for expressions of interest in a new power station was issued by the Labour government in 2013, shortly after the general election.

Although he had been fronting GEM at the time, Apap Bologna said that at the request of George Fenech, Yorgen Fenech's father, he took a step back and let Yorgen lead because, he was told, he did not have much on his hands at the time and could therefore allocate more time for the project.

Apap Bologna strenuously denied that he had handed 10 percent of his shareholding in GEM to Yorgen Fenech. The facts, he insisted, were that he could not afford the rising costs and he therefore handed part of his stake to the other partners. Yorgen Fenech then took a 10% stake (over and above that held by the Fenech Group) after a redistribution of shares by all the partners. Yorgen Fenech had wanted his own separate share because he was fronting the company. There was no other reason, Apap Bologna insisted.

The two-hour sitting was characterised by repeated arguments between Apap Bologna's lawyer, Giannella de Marco and members of the committee, notably Nationalist MPs Beppe Fenech Adami, Karol Aquilina and Ryan Callus, about their line of questions.

Upon instructions from de Marco, Apap Bologna refused to answer several questions, claiming his right to silence. De Marco argued that the members of the committee could only ask questions that were limited to the auditor's report on the power station deal. 

When, early in the sitting, Aquilina asked Apap Bologna to list the companies he has a shareholding in, he refused to answer, de Marco again insisting this was not within the scope of the committee. Aquilina said the committee needed to know the witness' background, to which de Marco quipped that “this is not a get-together”.

Fenech Adami retorted that many things developed from simple get togethers.

De Marco explained later that Apap Bologna could reply to more questions if the committee could get an assurance from the police commissioner that he was not under some sort of investigation. She also insisted that the auditor general had found no wrongdoing by him in the contract process. 

Electrogas project origins go back to 2006 

During questions on the origins of the Electrgas project, Apap Bologna said that he had studied and lived for a long time in the UK. In 2006 he had a close friend who worked in London for Gasol, which focused on electricity generation through gas. At the time he could see how utility rates in Malta were high and the electrical infrastructure needed to be changed.

He prepared a proposal which he discussed with then Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and other ministers, but there was no interest and the then government eventually went for the BWSC power station, using heavy fuel.

On his birthday, January 9, of 2013, he read on Times of Malta how Labour was planning to revamp the energy generation sector to run on gas.

He therefore asked Yorgen Fenech whether he would be interested in teaming up for such a project. Yorgen told him to see whether his father, George, was interested in the idea. He was, and it was George Fenech who then roped in the Gasans to form GEM. Apap Bologna said.

The Fenech group had previously tendered for a gas fired power station with Israeli partners but their bid had been rejected by the Nationalist government before it opted for a power station offer by BWSC, Apap Bologna said. 

"I did not take this project to the (Labour) opposition. They had said they planned to move to LNG so I did not go to them, they had already said it," Apap Bologna said. 

He denied having met members of the (Labour) opposition including Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri before 2013 but admitted he had met Joseph Muscat two or three times at social occasions, although, he said, the proposal was not discussed. 

Apap Bologna repeatedly refused to reply to questions by Fenech Adami about whether these meetings were actually sit-down dinners at the residence of a current minister. He also refused to say who had introduced him to Joseph Muscat.

He said that when the Labour government in 2013 issued its call for expressions of interest in the new power station he started calling people abroad to form a consortium. Through his friend in London he got Gasol on board, which then drew in Socar and Siemens, with whom they were already working. He had also spoken unsuccessfully to other companies including GE, Mitsui, Rolls Royce and EDF. 

Electrogas was then formed and submitted its bid for the power station project.

Relationship with Yorgen Fenech

Apap Bologna refused to answer many questions about the nature of his relationship with Yorgen Fenech and how it started, but he said he had once helped his father source medicines before he passed away.

He initially said he did not remember whether Yorgen Fenech gave him gifts, but said later that gifts were exchanged if they were invited to parties and Fenech was always generous. He once gave him 'a nice bottle of wine', he said, but would not say whether it was a Petrus.

"A friendship developed over the lifespan of the (power station) project. We became friends and used to meet up once in a while."

He said he had no business links with Yorgen Fenech before the power station proposal but did not say if there was other business after. He also refused to say when he last spoke to him.

Asked whether he regretted what had happened, he did not reply.

Apap Bologna insisted that he did not participate in the negotiations with the government for the power station contract and he made  'zero profit' from the project. Success fees and development fees went back to GEM and were used in the project, he insisted.

The committee is expected to continue to question Apap Bologna at its next meeting.

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