Former Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil today accused Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi of not turning up to testify in a libel case Mizzi had instituted, but Mizzi replied that three days ago the court had been notifed that he would have been unable to attend the sitting and had granted a postponement.
A day after a National Audit Office highlighted serious shortcomings in the way the contracts for the Delimara power station were awarded by Enemalta Corporation, then still under his watch, Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi had been expected to turn up in court to testify in a libel case against Busuttil, former deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami and MP Jason Azzopardi.
It was Busuttil himself who announced the minister's no-show on the social media, but it later turned out that three days ago the Court had granted a postponement of the case because the minister was due to be abroad on the day of the sitting.
The minister's press relations officer, Alex Cutajar, said that the minister requested an adjournment and another date to be set in view of the fact that he would be abroad for official travel. The court accepted the request on 26 November and put the case off.
In court today, Busuttil's lawyer Peter Fenech said that he had not been informed about the request for a postponement. He said it was not the first time that Mizzi had not turned up to face questions from the defence. He said that today's sitting had been agreed to by the minister.
The case was postponed to 10 January.
On Wednesday, the National Audit Office submitted a report to Parliament in which it said that energy purchased through the interconnector was a cheaper option than the new power station built in the previous legislature, and that the departure of Gasol plc was in breach of the contractual obligations in force at the time.
The key concern that emerged from the NAO’s review of the evaluation process of contracts awarded to ElectroGas Malta Ltd by Enemalta Corporation was the inconsistent approach at times adopted in the assessment of submissions.
Yesterday, in an elaborated press conference to defend himself in pure damage-control mode, Mizzi said that he had no problem speaking under oath about 17 Black, which was listed the 'Main Clients' and 'Possible Payers/Senders' of Tillgate and Hearnville, the offshore Panamanian companies owned by OPM Chief of Staff Keith Schembri and Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi.
They are running away from justice, Busuttil tweeted. But the magistrate had decided to put off the case long before Busuttil had gone to court this morning.