The former minister was responsible for the Electrogas project during Labour’s first term and resigned in disgrace in November 2019. He was later expelled from the Labour Party following revelations about profits made by the company 17 Black through its involvement in an Enemalta wind farm project in Montenegro.  

The Public Accounts Committee is currently discussing an auditor general investigation into the Electrogas power station. 

Mizzi has so far been asked to appear before the committee twice and has refused to do so on both occasions. This, the PN said, was both unprecedented and unacceptable. 

Mizzi has cited Parliament’s procedural rules, which give MPs the possibility of refusing to appear before the committee should they not want to. While the option is there, the norm has always been for MPs to appear before the committee when summoned. 

Nationalist MP and the chairman of the PAC Beppe Fenech Adami called on the Prime Minister to back the Opposition’s motion. 

“If he refuses, he too will be defending the corrupt Electrogas deal,” Fenech Adami said, stressing that, as the minister responsible for the project, Mizzi was in a position to reply to many of the committee’s questions about the deal. 

Opposition MPs on the committee have noted that while the rules technically gave Mizzi the right not to appear, they were also not set in stone. In fact, the committee is empowered to force Mizzi to appear before it, without a vote in Parliament’s plenary session. 

However, government MPs on the committee have so far voted against forcing Mizzi to appear, preferring instead to put to vote to all of the country’s MPs. 

Last week, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana, when asked, called on Mizzi to respect the committee’s invitation. 

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