The Nationalist Party said Saturday that the Labour MPs who sit on the Public Accounts Committee do not want to continue hearings during the summer months regarding an investigation by the National Audit Office into how the contract for a new gas-fired power station was awarded to Electrogas.
In a statement published by the PN, it accused PL MPs of wanting to enjoy the summer months amidst a “national crisis” of frequent and long power cuts.
During the last PAC hearing, when former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat faced the committee for the third time, Muscat confirmed that he can attend and continue to testify in the next hearing on 1 August 2023.
However, two PL MPs on the committee, Whip Andy Ellul and Minister Clayton Bartolo, both do not want to attend and instead proposed sending a substitute in their place or asking to meet after the reopening of parliament (1 October), the PN said.
In light of the current power cut crisis Malta is facing, the PN found it very ironic that the PL MPs do not want to meet for a PAC hearing which is part of an investigation linked to contracts by Enemalta to the Electrogas consortium regarding the new power station.
The PN insisted that it would be better if the government MPs joined the PN MPs and asked proper questions that will reveal how public funds were spent poorly which led to the country’s current power cut crises.
If anything because of the current situation, the PN said that it was more important to continue the investigation, because as more time passes it becomes more clear that the Maltese are paying for corruption.