The project, which is linked to Electrogas, has long faced allegations of government corruption. Still, the government has always defended the deal.

A freedom of information request submitted by the foundation was rejected by the Ministry, which is currently led by Miriam Dalli, who worked for Mizzi during his period as Energy Minister.

However, Commissioner Ian Deguara ruled with the foundation, adding that the Ministry had no grounds to use any of the exemptions it listed as reasons for refusal.

“The Ministry now has 20 days to respond to the Commissioner’s decision. They can file a complaint to the Appeals Tribunal, or they can give us the documents we requested. We’ll let you know how that goes,” the foundation said.

The issue of the secret agreement dates back to 2014, when then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his chief of staff Keith Schembri, Mizzi and then-OPM communications head Kurt Farrugia held a meeting in Baku with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.

No media were invited to report on the meeting. However, the government soon announced that Malta and Azerbaijan had signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation in the oil and gas sector.

The MOU came after Azerbaijan’s state oil company Socar joined the Electrogas consortium, which was chosen by the Muscat administration to develop and operate a new LNG power station in Delimara.

The deal itself has long raised eyebrows, which sees Socar purchase the gas from Shell and then charge Malta a higher cost. Meanwhile, Electroags has been central to corruption claims and has even been linked as a potential motive to the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.