Lahmeyer International, the second company at the heart of the Labour Party’s allegations of corruption in the awarding of the Delimara power station extension contract, has dispelled the bulk of the accusations levelled against it by the Opposition last month.

Lahmeyer is the company that was contracted by the government to assess a portion of the technical evaluation of bids for the controversial project, which was eventually awarded to Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC).

In a letter sent to the Malta Resources Authority this week, seen by The Malta Independent on Sunday, the company has defended itself tooth and nail against accusations of corruption as regards its role in advising the government, which eventually selected a bid tabled by BWSC.

It highlighted how its bid assessment, which comprised only a portion of the tender’s technical evaluation, and not the financial element, had actually placed BWSC in third place out of the four bidders – effectively pouring cold water on allegations of collusion and corruption between Lahmeyer and the winning bidder BWSC through a Maltese agent.

It also clarified that it was not paid anywhere near the €100,000, as alleged by the Opposition, but rather a far more paltry sum of just over €15,000 for its services to the government.

It also said that since it had been blacklisted from participating in World Bank projects 15 years ago, as highlighted by the Opposition last month, it has been cleared and awarded contracts by international financing institutions such as the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Asian Development Bank and the African Development Bank.

In its letter, Lahmeyer states, it “…sincerely regrets that these events happening some 15 years ago have [had] such unprecedented consequences. It should be noted that LI management and the lead staff responsible for the projects are for years no longer employed by LI.”

In December, the Labour Party had highlighted the World Bank’s ban on Lahmeyer in the wake of a construction scandal in Lesotho, where it had been active in a project between 1987 and 1995.

In its letter to the MRA – which, this newspaper is informed, in turn forwarded the communication to the Office of the Auditor General for perusal in its investigation into the corruption claims – Lahmeyer pointed out that, contrary to what was being alluded to by the Opposition, its assessment of the four bidders’ emission data had ranked BWSC only in third place out of four.

Moreover, the company clarifies, its services to the government on the contract had only covered a very small portion of the technical evaluation process, and that even when the whole of the technical evaluation process BWSC’s bid had still not even achieve a leading position among bidders. It was, the company pointed out, only after the financial evaluation, in which Lahmeyer had not been involved, had BWSC been selected as the top bidder.

The Opposition had also brought to light the fact that Joseph Mizzi, the Maltese representative of BWSC, had also done business with Lahmeyer International. The Opposition had said that it had in his possession an e-mail written by Mr Mizzi in April 2008 to the effect that he had boasted of links and agreements with several international companies, including BWSC and Lahmeyer International.

On the accusation of Mr Mizzi having served as a common denominator between Lahmeyer and BWSC, the company insists, “The services provided by LI were absolutely independent,” adding that “all contractual engagement with Typeset (the only partner in Malta) were finalised in 2007” and that in May 2008 “LI and Enemalta signed a Confidentiality Agreement strictly followed by LI’s experts”.

Moreover, on the allegation that Lahmeyer was paid a “hefty fee” of €100,000 for its services on the contract, Lahmeyer clarifies for the record, “The payment amount of €100,000 is incorrect. As stated, LI delivered only a small part of the technical evaluation process. The contract price in total amounted to €15,414 (Phase A: €6,700; and Phase B €8,714).