Muscat, ‘Enemalta advisors had ties with BWSC agent’
Experts appointed by government are blacklisted by World Bank for corruption
Matthew Vella
Labour leader Joseph Muscat has claimed that BWSC representative Joseph Mizzi had previous ties with the company that provided Enemalta with independent advice to choose the Danish firm’s controversial technology for the Delimara power station.
German firm Lahmeyer International was appointed by Enemalta to offer its expertise and appraise tenders for the €210 million extension of the power station.
Muscat claims that in an email in his possession sent by the BWSC representative, “Mizzi boasts of his ties and agreements with BWSC and Lahmeyer International… meaning Lahmeyer was appointed by Enemalta for its independent advisory report when it had already ties with Mizzi, the representative of BWSC.”
The Auditor General is at present investigating Enemalta’s choice of BWSC’s diesel engine turbine over a cheaper, gas turbine offered by Israeli firm Ido Hutney-Bateman, for the extension of the Delimara power station.
Labour has also denounced BWSC over past allegations of having corrupted and bribed public officials in the Philippines – allegations which could not be prosecuted because the crime of foreign bribery did not exist in Danish law at the time.
Yesterday, Muscat said Lahmeyer had been previously found guilty of bribery and corruption in several other countries, and subsequently blacklisted from undertaking any World Bank-financed projects for the period 2006-2013. The company was also blacklisted by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Muscat said that despite the blacklisting, Enemalta picked the German firm to advise them on the Delimara extension.
The firm’s report, ‘Emission Assessment of Diesel Generator Units and Combined Cycle Gas Turbines – Comparison’, of July 2008 analysed the level of pollution from the technologies being proposed for the extension.
“The report served as the basis for the Enemalta evaluation committee’s decision, by saying that the technology offered by BWSC was good and that the pollution levels would be reduced to be fully in line with the law,” Muscat said.
He said the Lahmeyer report did point out that BWSC’s diesel engine turbine is a prototype – a technology never tested before anywhere else – “but that it would function better than the technology offered by MAN (another tenderer) which also proposed a turbine fired by heavy fuel oil. Enemalta used this conclusion to say BWSC’s technology was better and would reduce pollution.”
In his reaction to Muscat’s claims, infrastructure minister Austin Gatt said Lahmeyer’s role in the entire tendering process was limited to verify the claims of the four tenderers on the exhaust gas cleaning capabilities of their proposed technologies. “This doesn’t mean the company had any final decision... clearly, the Leader of the Opposition wants to add more spice to his story and is forgetting his greater responsibility towards the common good.”
Gatt accused Labour of “undermining every government project” and said Muscat was instilling doubts in a bid to delay the completion of “essential projects” as in the case of the Delimara extension. “Everyone agrees that it is necessary that by 2012 we close down the Marsa power station, but the Opposition forgets the common good and insists on undermining development.”
Corruption claims Muscat said BWSC was investigated for the bribery of foreign officials by Danish police, but that it could not be prosecute since the crime of foreign bribery was not yet recognised in Denmark. “In spite of these facts, Lawrence Gonzi felt he should defend the company and Mizzi by saying they had proved the allegations against them were wrong, that they were false allegations, and that the allegations had been contested in courts abroad.”
The World Bank declared Lahmeyer International ineligible to be awarded Bank-financed contracts because of corrupt activities in connection with the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP).
The World Bank found that Lahmeyer engaged in corrupt activities by bribing Masupha Sole, the government official responsible for contract award and implementation under the LHWP, in violation of the Bank’s procurement guidelines. Lahmeyer received two World Bank contracts pertaining to the water transfer component that related to detailed design work, construction supervision, project studies and technical assistance in connection with the Water Delivery Tunnel South and the Mohale Tunnel.
In 2002 and 2003, the High Court of Lesotho convicted Sole and Lahmeyer of bribery. In light of the information obtained from these decisions, the World Bank proceeded with the debarment of Lahmeyer in August 2005.
The Maltese government also appointed Lahmeyer for studies on interconnecting the energy grid to the European mainland and install gas pipelines.
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