Power plant was not discussed with PL before 2013 election – Joe Gasan

The Electrogas power plant project was not discussed with the Labour Party before the 2013 election, entrepreneur Joe Gasan told a public inquiry yesterday.

Testifying, Joe Gasan said that in February 2013 (election was held in March), he was discussing a separate project with George Fenech, Mark Gasan and possibly even Yorgen Fenech, who is now accused of masterminding the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

A month earlier, at the start of the electoral campaign, the Labour Party had unveiled its plans for an LNG terminal and gas power station. Joe Gasan said that when the Labour government won the election, and issued the request for proposals for an LNG terminal and power station, George Fenech spoke to him again.

He said they discussed the idea with Paul Apap Bologna and Yorgen Fenech.

Joe Gasan added: “It was very interesting to me and Yorgen Fenech, I knew as an intelligent guy. John Zarb of PWC was very involved in the project, carrying out the feasibility study. Yorgen Fenech had suggested him and I had accepted since I knew him. I remember the biggest problem at the time was to find the right company to build the turbines and boilers.”

He said that they had spoken to General Electric, who were interested and said they could deliver in five years. “At the last minute, Siemens came in and said ‘yes we can do it’,” he says.

Gasan was testifying in the public inquiry set up to find out whether the state could have done more to prevent the assassination of Caruana Galizia, killed in a car bomb on 16 October 2017.

But the project was never discussed with officials of the Labour Party before the election. “Absolutely not,” he said.

Last month, Gasan Enterprises said it is looking to pull out of the Electrogas consortium, which owns and runs the new gas-fired power station in Delimara.

In a statement signed by chairman Joe Gasan and CEO Mark Gasan, Gasan Enterprises said that they had not received any dividends from the project and had decided to identify all avenues in order to exit from the consortium.

“We have not received any dividends and have only registered losses in relation to our investment in ElectroGas.” the statement said.

The Gasans own a third of a holding company called GEM Holdings along with the Fenech family and Apap Bologna family. GEM Holdings itself holds a 33% stake in the Electrogas project.

Joe Gasan said that the group wants to distance itself from the project. “There have been so many attacks... we had done so many good things, employed so many people and now we are being accused of being involved in the horrible murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. We don’t believe it is the case. Then we read in the compilation of evidence that Inspector Zahra said that the main reason for the murder was Electrogas. Then there were the personal attacks. We don’t know if there was an involvement but if there was we don’t want a part of it so we are looking to exit the consortium and have been doing so for some time. We will not profit from this deal.”

Mark Gasan also testified in the inquiry yesterday.

Caruana Galizia was murdered in a car bomb just outside her Bidnija home on 16 October 2017.

Three men, George Degiorgio, Alfred Degiorgio and Vince Muscat, have been charged with carrying out the assassination, while Yorgen Fenech is charged with masterminding the murder.

Melvin Theuma, who acted as a middleman between Fenech and the three killers, was granted a presidential pardon last year to tell all.

The inquiry is led by retired judge Michael Mallia and includes former chief justice Joseph Said Pullicino and Judge Abigail Lofaro.