Yorgen Fenech resigns as director of Electrogas; Siemens wanted him out months ago

Yorgen Fenech resigned from both Electrogas and Tumas Group Company Ltd (and other subsidiary companies), The Malta Independent revealed yesterday.

A boat belonging to 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech was intercepted at sea by the Armed Forces of Malta and returned to Malta early on Wednesday morning, police confirmed to The Malta Independent.

The yacht was seized off the coast of Pembroke soon after it had left Portomaso at 5.30 am. Fenech was arrested and is in police custody.

The Malta Independent yesterday morning sent questions to Siemens, one of the shareholders in the Electrogas consortium. Siemens were asked whether the company feels comfortable being involved in Electrogas, what action they will be taking, and whether they will request Fenech’s removal.

“As we have learned today from media reports, Yorgen Fenech – who until now has been a member of the Board of Directors of Electrogas Malta Ltd. (EGM), in which Siemens holds a minority stake – has been arrested in Malta,” Siemens said yesterday.

“After corruption allegations against Mr. Fenech and the company 17 Black Ltd., which he is reported to own, became known some time ago, Siemens addressed this issue with the companies that own EGM.

“In addition, in a lengthy discussion held in Malta, we also confronted Mr. Fenech with the accusations from media reports and asked him to state his position on them. In this discussion, Yorgen Fenech denied all allegations.

“Due to the public doubts in Mr. Fenech’s integrity, Siemens urged that he be dismissed from his membership on the Board of Directors.

“As co-owner GEM has informed EGM’s Board of Directors today, Mr. Fenech has resigned from the Board of Directors. GEM has named a new representative.

“Following repeated internal reviews, Siemens is – to date – not aware of any indications of misconduct on the part of Siemens, Siemens employees, or EGM.

“We are still monitoring the developments very closely and will continue to react to them as we have been doing.”

Asked for some clarifications, Siemens said that its representatives had a personal discussion with Fenech in Malta.

“This conversation took place end of March 2019 – since then we called for his exchange in the Board of Directors of EGM.” Electrogas also responded to questions posed by this newsroom.

"Electrogas Malta Ltd has been closely following media reports concerning Mr Yorgen Fenech. Electrogas Malta Ltd has no information whatsoever about the subject.

“Electrogas Malta Ltd clarifies that it has three shareholders, each owning 33.33% of the shares in the company. Mr Yorgen Fenech sat on the Board of Directors as an appointed representative of one of the three shareholders of the company.

“Mr Yorgen Fenech resigned from the Board of Directors of Electrogas Malta Ltd effective Tuesday 12 November 2019 and has been replaced by Mr. Paul Apap Bologna."

The company did not respond to a question asking whether

Electrogas would be ordering an internal investigation into Yorgen Fenech, the allegations and the situation.

In terms of the Tumas Group companies, the information was also tabled with the Malta Business Registry.

Documents pertaining to Tumas Group Company Ltd. show that it was received by the Registry on the 19th November. It also reads, however, that the effective date of change is listed as 12th November.

This means that it was done before Fenech was arrested yesterday morning.

In this case, Fenech has been replaced by his brother, Franco Fenech.

In addition, Tumas Group Company Ltd. appointed Emanuel Fenech as a Director, legal and judicial representative as well, and was done on 15 November.