Paul Apap Bologna remained silent when asked about Kittiwake Limited, a company which was allegedly set up to funnel money in the United Arab Emirates.
Kittiwake Limited is one of the companies that was allegedly involved in money-laundering. Times of Malta revealed that this company had a timeline which coincided with the registration of Yorgen Fenech’s 17 Black, as well as the Panama companies which were owned by Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri, which all took place in the space of three months in 2015.
Last week, Apap Bologna was summoned to testify before the Public Accounts Committee, which saw the continuation of the inspection of the Auditor General's report entitled ‘An Investigation of Matters Relating to the Contracts awarded to ElectroGas Malta Ltd. by Enemalta Corporation’.
He had said that although he had met Joseph Muscat “three to four times”, he had not discussed the project at any point in time with the former PM. He also remarked that he had never met either Keith Schembri or Konrad Mizzi.
Today, confronted by the details revealed in the news report surrounding KittiWake Limited, Apap Bologna repeated “I exercise my right to silence” for every question asked by PN MP Karol Aquilina.
In this sitting, Apap Bologna submitted documentation requested last week and a pen drive. He however demanded to make a number of clarifications on his previous testimony and the documentation he had just submitted.
The chairman of the committee, PN MP Beppe Fenech Adami noted that the documents which were handed were “not what we asked for”. Apap Bologna said that he would like to make a clarification in terms of an error he made last week, where he said that his shares were taken up by Fenech's Tumas Group and not by Fenech in his personal capacity as he had pointed out last time round.
The discussion was heated, as Opposition MP Karol Aquilina warned lawyer Giannella de Marco to stop suggesting answers to Apap Bologna. She retorted that Aquilina's attitude was disrespectful.
Between the March 2013 election and the formation of the company in Malta, Fenech was putting the consortium behind the Elctrogas project together, Apap Bologna said. There were negotiations between various partners, Apap Bologna stated, with representatives of SOCAR, Siemens, PWSC, and lawyers being present in the early stages of the project formation.
He said that on 10 May 2013, the consortium presented the Expression of Interest. Aquilina asked how this could be if Electrogas was formed on 12 June 2013. Apap Bologna said that in the Expression of Interest, there was a memorandum of understanding with the intention of forming the Electrogas company.
Aquilina said that Yorgen Fenech went to speak with Ram Tumuluriu and Mark Pawley of Vitals Global Healthcare to hold certain negotiations regarding the project, to which Apap Bologna said that he was unaware of these negotiations.
As the debate heated up, even between PN and PL MPs, Beppe Fenech Adami stated that “Yes, the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed because of the Electrogas project… Had the Electrogas project not been done, the way it was done, Caruana Galizia would not have been killed,”
“Had Apap Bologna not allowed things to be done the way it was done, Caruana Galizia would not have been killed,” insisted Fenech Adami.
Turmoil erupted at that point, as Government members, including Bedingfield and Minister Clayton Bartolo, said that Fenech Adami was accusing Apap Bologna of being responsible for the death of Caruana Galizia.
The committee discussion will continue next Wednesday.