Former Enemalta finance chief Tarcisio Mifsud explains why the national energy corporation has fallen victim to political interference and rot in the aftermath of the Auditor General’s report
‘Incredulous’ is perhaps the best word to describe the reaction displayed by Enemalta’s former finance manager, to the conclusions drawn by the Auditor General over the €230 million contract awarded to Danish firm BWSC for the extension of the Delimara Power Station.
Tarcisio Mifsud, retired since 2004 after serving for 20 years as the head of Enemalta’s finances, expresses disbelief at how Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Finance Minister Tonio Fenech have brushed off any suggestion of corruption, when the Auditor General himself found difficulty in obtaining all the information necessary to draw a definite conclusion.
“The Auditor General has come out with a damning report, and should I have still been at Enemalta and such shocking revelations were made, I would surely not even show my face in public,” Mifsud states.
His criticism is built on the premise that Enemalta has been “bullied into a mess.”
Tarcisio Mifsud insists he finds it difficult to accept that his former colleagues at Enemalta have “stooped so low”. “How can it be acceptable to anybody to read that an Enemalta official has misled MEPA through incorrect information over a non-existent contract for the export of toxic waste that will be generated by the controversial plant?” he asks, adding that he waits to see what MEPA has to say about this, and whether the outline development permit will be suspended or withdrawn, given that the information supplied was incorrect or as it evidently adds up: “I would dare say that MEPA was maliciously misled. It was purposely lied to,” Mifsud says, while stressing on the question whether anybody would be prosecuted over this matter alone.
But Mifsud’s major concerns over the controversial contract – as were in fact highlighted by the Auditor General – concern who is to answer for the anomalous and sudden change in the declared policy to go for gas, and how the contract was instead awarded to a company that will supply a plant that works on Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) and that will generate tonnes of toxic waste.
“This is why I claim that Enemalta was bullied into a mess, because the use of gas to generate electricity was the obvious step forward. We are talking about a policy document prepared and written by Enemalta’s engineers and taken on board by government, who in turn had made it an official governmental policy document,” he said.
Who changed this policy and why?
“Nobody has so far come forward to give a credible answer and surely it was not an Enemalta decision…”
So are you implying political interference? I ask.
“Who else could possibly interfere with Enemalta? Who else runs this country? My question here is what really made government change this policy, because between 1996 and 1998 Delimara had got a brand new 114 MW combined-cycle diesel plant installed.”
He adds: “So today, when I learn that the country has chosen diesel and HFO again actually means that rather than going for something better and cleaner such as the suggested gas turbines, we have actually gone backward and not moved ahead.”
Another question raised by Tarcisio Mifsud regards the sudden change of the emissions limits by legal notice halfway through the adjudicating process.
“Raising the emissions limit proved to be a cardinal point that allowed BWSC to secure the lucrative contract.
“It wasn’t Enemalta to make that change, because all Enemalta could do is to recommend it, but the Legal Notice was published by government half way through the process through a Ministry without anybody noticing – only to the benefit of who needed such an advantage. Tell me where else in the world would you find yourself in a situation where the goal posts would change overnight and unannounced? It’s a real mess…”
Moreover – Mifsud stresses – the contract was mysteriously adjudicated and awarded to BWSC without leaving any possible room for other bidders to appeal the decision, given that it was Easter week.
And what about the footprint? Mifsud asks.
“Does anybody know how huge the new plant is going to be? Does anybody know that should the country need to further upgrade, Enemalta must go for land reclamation at an enormous cost, given that the sea there is extremely deep?”
But Mifsud’s biggest surprise is having to learn that Enemalta never conducted any due-diligence to know any background into the supposedly ‘independent’ consultants Lahmeyer International.
The Auditor General confirmed that Lahmeyer were not only biased in there reportsm, but, even worse, were commissioned to guide Enemalta during the process, when in fact they were ‘blacklisted’ by the World Bank for previous proven cases of public officials in other countries.
“This to me is outright scandalous and totally unacceptable. And again, nobody is accountable for anything,” Mifsud says adding that even a simple job application would require references, let alone a consultancy firm dealing with a multi million public funded contract.
And what about Joe Mizzi, the enigmatic middleman who the Auditor General described as “evasive” to the questions he was asked during the investigation?
“I know Joe Mizzi, and I can tell you that he is definitely not capable of having the ability to whisk his way through the corridors of power, as was suggested throughout the whole process.
“I remember Mizzi as a draughtsman at Enemalta some years back, and from what I know, he definitely must have appeared for somebody else. Surely he was not ‘his own man’ as BWSC had originally indicated,” Mifsud says.
To qualify this, Mifsud says how from his experience, contracts involving such big sums would normally carry a commission of 0.5% to a maximum 1%.
“I see it quite unlikely to see Joe Mizzi taking a lucrative 2% commission, and if so, then it is indicative that some of that commission money must have been intended to go into somebody else’s pocket,” Mifsud said.
According to Tarcisio Mifsud, “there is much more behind Joe Mizzi,” stressing that the man must have been a “front” to somebody else, who remains mysteriously unknown.
Mizzi is the same man the Auditor General points out he was labelled as a “bluffer” by his former employer Joseph Rizzo and neither provided any evidence as to the intended “higher source” he was asked by email from BWSC in which he said they should “tap higher into the political hierarchy” to secure the contract.
One of the most damning revelations of the report is that Enemalta’s records on persons visiting the Corporation’s premises “are incomplete and unreliable” and when it comes to Joe Mizzi, who admitted to having meetings with Enemalta during the tender process, it was asked of the Enemalta Chairman “to conduct those investigations deemed necessary to confirm or otherwise whether any such leakages had actually taken place”.
Joe Mizzi also carries a conflict of interest with World Bank blacklisted Lahmeyer International, who the same Mizzi had represented, having recommended BWSC for the contract in their report for Enemalta.
“According to the Auditor General, Lahmeyer’s advice was “instrumental” in Enemalta’s decision to accept bidders that had quoted prototype combinations rather than complying with the original tender, which stipulated the requirement for ‘tried and tested solutions’ backed by references to international sites operating the same equipment as those being proposed. It was only thanks to this decision that BWSC remained in the running for the Delimara contract, to the extent that the Auditor’s report concludes that Enemalta’s decision to go for a prototype combination has put Enemalta in a position of very high risk.”
Mifsud insists that he cannot digest the theory that ‘rot’ has set into Enemalta, and repeats, “they possibly could not have stooped so low in all this mess.”
He goes on: “stories of changing goalposts, engaging blacklisted companies as consultants, conflicts of interest and what more, lead me to insist that Enemalta was not only hijacked as somebody suggested, but more than that, it fell victim to so much political interference.”
Mifsud questions the politically appointed board at Enemalta – in particular the outgoing Chairman who was told by the Auditor General that he should have resigned immediately when he declared a conflict of interest.
“The Chairman informed the board of his conflict of interest because of his involvement with a company entrusted with the construction of the plant, but ethically he should have resigned and not simply stayed away from the board meetings that discussed the issue. In other words he put a millstone around the board’s neck…” he says.
Mifsud expresses his disappointment at the situation inside Enemalta, that has – in his words – become the nation’s “laughing stock”.
“With no less than five total blackouts registered over a few months, it is legitimate that each and every one of us asks about what has been done over these last 10 years to address the energy sector in this country.
“It is a scandal that nobody has ever questioned why the infamous Boiler number 7 – which is a relatively new boiler – trips continuously, and never the old second-hand boilers at Marsa that have been in service for decades.
“I ask government and Enemalta to tell us what on earth has happened to the sophisticated software that was purposely installed some years ago to eliminate any possibility of cascading effect on shutting-down boilers when one of them trips?
“Can anybody tell us all as to where these mysterious extra 10MW that caught Enemalta by surprise last Good Friday came from, and how that led to yet another total blackout?”
Mifsud explains that given that it was a bright clear day, the majority of people were outdoors, and load was definitely on the lowest. “I cannot understand how an extra 10MW were suddenly ‘added’ to Enemalta’s load that day, when the only enterprise capable of such a load is the Water Services Corporation when it decides to switch on all its Reverse Osmosis plants, which isn’t the case: such a thing would happen with WSC and Enemalta advising each other weeks before, and engineers on stand-by would be there to coordinate such an upward bounce in energy generation
“No matter what I say or what anybody could believe, in this country nobody is accountable, nor are they subject to resignation. We are just draining this country of all its resources and fooling ourselves that all is OK!”
Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below. Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.
Search:
MALTATODAY
BUSINESSTODAY
Download MaltaToday Sunday issue front page in pdf file format
