Marsa power station closes down at last

● Gruesome murder in St Paul’s Bay ● NAO issues damning report on Café Premier deal

March was a busy month of damage limitation for Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who was personally implicated in a damning report by the National Audit Office into the €4.2 million bailout given to the owners of Café Premier in Valletta. It also saw the Marsa power station plug pulled and a murder of a Maltese woman.

The NAO found that there was insufficient justification for the government’s decision not to pursue legal action in a bid to rescind the lease on Café Premier in Valletta.

The government instead controversially opted to pay Cities Entertainment (CE) €4.2 million to buy back a 65-year lease on the cafeteria – which had closed down indefinitely – in January 2014. This agreement has been widely perceived as a bailout of an effectively insolvent company.

Adding insult to injury, the sum included €210,000 paid to CE director Mario Camilleri as “intermediary costs,” which the NAO said were effectively a commission.

The Prime Minister’s fingerprints were found all over the deal, which he personally negotiated using a private email account instead of his government one.

The NAO said that the amount paid did reflect a fair market value, but this did not imply that value for money was achieved, particularly in light of shortcomings including the failure to evaluate alternative courses of action including legal action.

“This resulted in the eventual withdrawal of legal proceedings without clear justification or documentation, which action detracted from the required level of transparency expected in such a decision. This must be seen within a context where the tenant, CE, was in breach of the lease agreement with government, as the three-year threshold in ground rent payments had been exceeded when negotiations commenced,” the Auditor General maintained.

“Poor governance was a factor central to this shortcoming,” the NAO said.

The Nationalist Part asked for heads to roll over the scandal, though ultimately no resignations were forthcoming.

March also saw experts call for the reintroduction of a dedicated police swat unit as well as the continuation of the Swiss Leaks scandal.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi pulled the plug on the Marsa power station on 9 March, the same day when the new power station (still being constructed) was meant to open.

A 36-year-old woman was found murdered in a residence in St Paul’s Bay, the police said. The woman was revealed to be Silvana Muscat. Addressing a crime conference, assistant police commissioner Pierre Calleja said that the woman appeared to have been stabbed at least five times in her upper body.

Silvio Zammit was described as the “golden key” for Snus companies to get their toe in the door to try and get an EU ban on the oral tobacco lifted, said Olaf Director Giovanni Kessler while testifying in court. Kessler, testifying in the case against Mr Zammit, said that the investigation into the snus affair began when he received a transmission letter from the EC Secretary General Catherine Day on 24 May, 2012. Ms Day claimed she had received a report from snus manufacturer Swedish Match with certain facts about John Dalli and Mr Zammit.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat also presided over the signing of an agreement between the government and Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry in Żebbuġ, Gozo in March. During the same event, Health Minister Konrad Mizzi announced that €200m was to be invested in the Gozo Hospital and the St Luke’s Hospital. The former, he said, will be turned into a fully-fledged hospital, while St Luke’s will be turned into a functional hospital facility once more. The Barts agreement will see the opening of a campus hosting a medical and dental school of Queen Mary University of London.

As for ITS, former Director Henry Mifsud had denied accusations made against him, that he was using the college’s chefs to prepare food for his personal parties. He later suspended himself pending investigation.

Mr Justice Michael Mallia, who presided court for the last time before his retirement, said that the country needs more judges and magistrates in order to expedite the administration of justice. He also said that pensions need to be increased.