The Health and Energy has denied in a right of reply sent to this paper, that Godwin Sant, who was suspended a few days ago over his alleged involvement in the oil procurement scandal, was part of Konrad Mizzi’s private secretariat.
The report was published in The Malta Independent on Friday 23 January.
The right of reply sent by the Health and Energy Ministry is being reproduced in full:
“Reference is made to the article ‘Oil Scandal – Godwin Sant was handpicked by Energy Minister into his private secretariat’ published on Friday 23rd February 2015, on pages 1 & 5 and the editorial on page 9 with the title ‘Who gets to walk away?’ published on Friday 23rd February 2015 (sic - actual date was 23 January).
The Ministry for Energy and Health would like to clarify the following: Godwin Sant, was never part of the Minister’s for Energy and Health private secretariat as erroneously stated in the article and editorial of the same newspaper.
Godwin Sant was the Chief Officer responsible for energy under the previous administration and he continued to fulfill his responsibilities of the previously held position of Chief Officer Energy Policy under the Malta Resources Authority, as CEO of this Unit.
Following allegations in local newspapers relating to events during the previous administration, Godwin Sant was suspended with immediate effect from the Sustainable Energy and Water Conservation Unit pending investigation.
When elected, this Government separated the policy aspect of energy from the regulator. This was done in order to strengthen the regulator’s role by focusing purely on its role to regulate the sector.
Under the previous administration, energy policy and the regulator were not separate; therefore the Malta Resources Authority could not operate independently as on the one hand it had to draft energy policy and on the other hand, regulate the same policy that it was proposing. The interface between the MRA and the Government, under previous administrations, was significant. The separation of Policy from the regulator was announced by the Government in March of 2013.”
Sant’s name still listed on Energy Ministry’s website
The engineer was suspended after allegations surfaced that he accepted gifts from oil giant Trafigura at rogue oil trader George Farrugia’s request. Following the reported allegationswhich led to his dismissal, this newsroom established that Godwin Sant was listed under the Ministry’s secretariat in a cached version of the Energy Ministry’s ‘Administration’ webpage. The engineer’s contact details are still listed below those of the Minister’s communications officer, permanent secretary and customer care department, among others, all under the umbrella title of the Ministry’s Secretariat. The website has since been amended to state that the post previously occupied by MrSant is temporarily vacant.
The post occupied until recently by Mr Sant, that of CEO of the Sustainable Energy and Water Conservation Unit, was created in February 2014 by the Labour government. What’s more, the Legal Notice setting up the unit clearly states that the CEO is chosen by the Minister responsible for the sector, in this case KonradMizzi.
This paper also mentioned the fact that Godwin Sant had also held the posts of Director for Energy Regulation and later as Chief Officer Energy Policy at the Malta Resources Authority (MRA) under the previous administration.