The government did not deny that negotiations for the privatisation of Sea Malta had been carried out with more than one company, but Labour leader Dr Alfred Sant had not explained the relevance of the observation he made last Saturday.
A Department of Information statement contained a chronology of the events that have taken place with regard to the privatisation of the company.
It said that on 15 September 2004, the Privatisation Unit received two offers for the purchase of Sea Malta. On 7 October, the unit received legal advice that the submissions made were not according to the call for tenders.
On 26 October, the government informed the bidders of this situation but told them that that it was prepared to discuss the proposed sale of shares the government has in Sea Malta.
Negotiations began with one of them on 4 November, and discussions are in the final stages. Negotiations with the second bidder started on 10 November.
On 19 November, the Privati-sation Unit informed the government that, comparing the two offers, negotiations should only be pursued with one bidder. It is not true that the government ignored the offer that was reneged, said the DOI. What is true is that the government continued discussions with the better bidder, it said.
On 22 February, the Privatisation Unit informed the bidder whose offer was being turned down that negotiations were to continue with the other bidder only.
One wonders what scandal Labour leader Alfred Sant saw in all this, the DOI added. It is not in the national interest that such a process be discussed in public, as had been done by Dr Sant, but when it is completed, it could be brought before the Public Accounts Committee.
The statement also referred to the closure of Interprint, saying that the government had tried on more than one occasion to sell the company in order to safeguard, if possible, the jobs of its employees, or at least some of them.
Three attempts had been made – in 1994, 1995 and 2001 – but the efforts were in vain. The government’s policy is not to replace private initiative and investment in a sector that employs hundreds of people, and therefore the government decided not to diversify Interprint’s operations.
The last attempt to privatise the company was this year, but no bid was received except to buy the company’s machinery. It was therefore evident that the time had come to take the decision to abandon the road towards privatisation and close the company, the DOI said.