The Maltese government and the European Union are in agreement that no funds allotted to any given project are to be funnelled to sustain criminal activities, Energy Minister Miriam Dalli said today.

She was being referred to Malta being allowed to apply for EU funding for a proposed gas pipeline on condition that no funds will directly or indirectly flow to anyone involved in criminal activity.

Dalli was asked whether Yorgen Fenech’s status as a shareholder of Tumas Group, which is a shareholder of Electrogas, will not stop the European Union from giving Malta funds for the gas pipeline. Fenech is accused of being a mastermind in the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia in October 2017.

In her reply, Dalli said that the gas pipeline project is completely extraneous to other projects in the energy sector.

She said that the government could not continue to focus on its current projects alone as the pipeline needs to happen, allowing for a cleaner energy source.

Dalli said that meetings such as the one held this week on the proposed gas pipeline happen for regulations purposes. She said that she is very proud that the government has managed to keep working on its plans towards the installation of a hydrogen ready pipeline, even given that the Nationalist party hindered process.

She added that the future hydrogen ready pipeline will be operated by Interconnect Malta, a company which has no connections with other entities involved in the energy sector. Furthermore, she added that it is a fundamental rule for the European Union, one which also the government agrees with, that European funds do not support any project which is linked to corruption or other criminal activities.