The reluctance on the part of the Labour Party to clearly state its position regarding the government’s decision to privatise the dockyard and the claims made by Labour speakers that they “knew nothing” about the government’s plans are belied by the continuous stream of information that the Labour Party has been given regarding the situation at the dockyard.

Documents tabled by Dr Gonzi on Wednesday (but so far not picked up by any of the media) show that Labour has been continuously informed about the situation at the dockyard.

On 22 June 2007, then chairman of Malta Shipyards John Cassar White wrote to Alfred Sant and said he had been directed by the Prime Minister to hold a meeting with senior executives to explain how productivity is affecting the shipyard’s results.

The meeting was, in fact, held on 13 July. Present for the Labour Party were Helena Dalli, Carm Farrugia, Joe Zammit and a Ms Magro, while the shipyard was represented by Mr Cassar White, CEO Chris Bell, finance executive Ivan Borg and head of production Vincent Micallef.

The Labour delegation was given a presentation by Mr Cassar White, an assessment of the restructuring process at the shipyard by Mr Cassar White himself, a paper “How the Productivity Issue affected the yards’ financial performance in 2006” by Mr Cassar White as well, a summary of the Management Accounts and balance sheet for January to May 2007 and compared to the original Business Plan; an update on the State Aid position from 2002 to 2006, calculations regarding the working capital subsidy relating to the 25 per cent limitation as included in the EU Treaty of Accession and a note on the costing system used at Malta Shipyards.

Mr Cassar White even wrote to Mr Farrugia on 24 July in reply to a letter sent by Mr Farrugia on 14 July on the selling price target benchmark.

On 16 August Dr Sant was sent an interim report on the shipyards’ financial performance in 2006.