ElectroGas Malta has spoken out for the first time following reports that disgraced minister Konrad Mizzi had intervened to ensure they don’t have to pay €40 million in excise tax.

The consortium, which runs the LNG power plant in Delimara, didn’t address the actual allegation but said the email snippets published form part of a cache of data “illegally retrieved” from their servers “in breach of the law, often including internal communications and working documents between EGM employees which have been taken out of context”.

“At no point has EGM or persons quoted or included in the emails been contacted for comment,” it said.

“Indeed, EGM discovered a breach to its IT systems in late December 2017, and subsequently reported this criminal offence to the police. A Magisterial Inquiry is ongoing and to EGM’s knowledge, the perpetrator of this illegal act has not been identified as yet.”

A few months before her murder in October 2017, journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia had come into possession of a significant ElectroGas Malta leak consisting of over 200,000 documents.

Yorgen Fenech, who was a shareholder and director of ElectroGas Malta, has been charge with her murder.

Earlier this week, The Shift News reported how a €40 million excise tax bill was weighing heavily on ElectroGas Malta’s mind and that it was battling with Enemalta and Customs as to who would foot the bill.

On 28th October 2017, 12 days after Caruana Galizia’s murder, Fenech announced that following a meeting a day earlier, the government had agreed that Enemalta should foot the bill.

The Shift News reported that the deal was sorted by Konrad Mizzi, who used to be Energy Minister was but who was Tourism Minister by October 2017.

In its statement, ElectroGas Malta also appeared to refer to a recent statement by Caruana Galizia’s son Matthew that its bank balance had shrunk from €450 million to just €100,000 in three years.

“It bled half a billion euros in three years. It couldn’t even pay its employees. Or even a cup of coffee, because one of its creditors garnisheed its bank account. It wasn’t generating electricity. SOCAR was invoicing it for millions of euros,” Caruana Galizia wrote on social media.

ElectroGas Malta’s response is at follows:

“Furthermore, with reference to speculation in the media relating to EGM’s profits; EGM would like to emphasise that contrary to statements in the media, EGM has not made any profit to date. Furthermore EGM has not paid any dividends to its shareholders and is not expected to do so in the near future. The Project is considered as a long-term investment and its main focus is the security of supply to Malta.”

Cover photo: Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and former Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi unveil the ElectroGas power station 

What do you make of ElectroGas Malta’s statement?