The lucrative government contract, which according to the PN secretary general, Zaren Vassallo “lost” in 2006, was in reality “won” by Vassallo, as his company was given more than half the Lm10 million contract.

Mr Vassallo’s consortium in fact had won Lot 3 – The Biological Plant of the contract, which costs Lm5.7 million, the Labour Party claimed last night.

The part that Mr Vassallo lost was Lot 1, won by Polidano at a value of Lm3.1 million.

In an interview given to MaltaToday last Sunday, Mr Saliba said: “Last year I went on the same boat with Vassallo. Still he did not get his tender (Sant’Antnin plant).”

In a counter-statement, the Nationalist Party claimed Labour had once again twisted the facts.