Things just don’t go away. Last week, our sister paper The Malta Independent on Sunday published a story in which it was revealed that the company belonging to a consultant to the Health Ministry had bid for an IT tender within the same ministry.

Since then, this newspaper has posed questions to the Health Ministry about the issue and the answers we have been given have been very beurocratic. Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia said that he had only got to know of the bid very recently and that he would leave the adjudication process to the civil service. “There are competent people there and if there are any difficulties, they will see to them in a transparent manner,” Dr Farrugia told us.

The Minister said the call for offers has to be done properly through the e-portal system and the government gazette, and what interests him is that the process is transparent and just.  He also pointed out that created a business friendly desk in order to keep business men at arm's length. One of his advisors acts as the buffer between a business man, whoever he may be, and the Minister. 

But then again, this does not alter the fact that Mark Sammut plays a dual role in the Ministry, as a consultant and as a businessman, but Dr Farrugia does not see a conflict of interest in this.

Dr Farrugia explained that Dr Sammut is an advisor to the Ministry, procurement takes place by the Health Department, and the consultant involved there is the Health Department’s consultant,” Dr Farrugia said. The Ministry said that the evaluation process of this call has not even commenced as the adjudication committee is still being set up and has not been granted.

But The Malta Independent on Sunday published documents that show that the cheapest offer was submitted by Mall Systems Limited. Mark Sammut, government IT consultant, owns 96% of the company shares. And the fact of the matter is that the cheapest bid wins.

This newspaper has continued to press for more information, but it is not very forthcoming. No one doubts Dr Farrugia’s integrity, but it is becoming increasingly clear that something is wrong with the system. It is a case of a consultant close to the minister bidding for a tender issued by the Health Department – and in that, we see a case of blurred lines. Where, exactly, do we draw the lines?

Perhaps it is time for the opposition to pose a parliamentary question about it. What has happened since the news broke? Has the adjudication process started? Does the opposition see a conflict of interest unfolding here? These are all questions that need to be asked. We have asked them and we have not been given much feedback aside from being fended off. Parliament is the highest institution of the land and it is time for answers. And those answers need to be given in parliament, if only someone would ask the question. The opposition seems to be getting lost in individual battles, but this is an issue which deals with the health sector, a sector that demands the utmost in transparency.