I refer to your editorial (Thursday, 3 February) where you write: “One cannot believe that someone as respected and intelligent as Evarist Bartolo could paint himself into such a tight corner by not verifying his information.” You also write that the opposition “cannot even get the name of a company right.” These are very unfair comments as soon after the end of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting of last Monday, I sent a release which you failed to publish: “Last summer I took a number of documents to the National Audit Office and asked the General Auditor to continue investigating the award of the contract of the Delimara Power Station extension to BWSC. These documents show clearly that Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and BWSC are very closely linked and belong to the same large family of the Japanese company Mitsui. Sumitomo works very closely with Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding Company Limited and is the major lender for this Japanese multinational which owns BWSC. Sumitomo also works very closely with Enemalta and was one of the banks from which Enemalta got a loan of €210 million in 2005 when BWSC was already in Malta working hard to get the contract of the Delimara Power Station extension.”
I have already written an email to the PAC saying: “I confirm again that the information I presented to the Auditor General in documents that he has a copy of show that SMBC: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, is the same company mentioned by Minister Gatt himself. In the letter I sent to the PAC I made a mistake by changing the letter ‘t’ with the letter ‘m’ and ‘Sumitomo’ became ‘Sumimoto’. I made the same mistake in the PAC. But I want to make it clear that I told the Auditor General to investigate Sumitomo. When I commit a mistake I have no problem in admitting that I have committed a mistake. I apologise for this mistake and I will correct this mistake in the next PAC meeting. But this mistake changes nothing of the substantial facts that led me to mention Sumitomo and its strong links to Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co Ltd., the owner of BWSC.”
Evarist Bartolo
PL spokesman for Education and Civil Rights