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WATCH: Brian Tonna Unable To Explain Yorgen Fenech’s Overnight Inclusion As Electrogas Shareholder

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Former Nexia BT managing partner Brian Tonna was unable to explain to members of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee how Yorgen Fenech’s name had suddenly ended up on a list of shareholders in the Electrogas consortium.

The committee is currently reviewing the report from an auditor general investigation into the contract awarded to the company for the construction and operation of a gas-fired power station.

Tonna, who sat on the selection committee for the project, has appeared before the committee four times so far, though he has claimed to have forgotten most of the details asked.

 

During today’s sitting, Tonna was asked about the composition of the Electrogas consortium, which originally included three international companies and a local consortium.

Gasol held 30% of the shares in the project, while Siemens and Socar each held 20%. GEM Holdings held the remaining 30% of the shares and was composed of Gasan Enterprises, Tumas Energy and CP Holdings, which is owned by businessman Paul Apap Bologna.

Committee chairman Beppe Fenech Adami noted that one of the documents drawn up as part of the evaluation, and which Tonna had signed himself, listed the shareholders in GEM Holdings as being Tumas, Gasan and CP Holdings.

“Then, out of the blue, it mentions Yorgen Fenech as also being a shareholder,” Fenech Adami said, asking Tonna for an explanation as to why Fenech had suddenly been included in the list of shareholders.

Tonna acknowledged that the change had been made but could not offer an explanation to the board. “How should I know? I wasn’t part of the consortium.”

Fenech Adami pointed out that a subsequent report had also included Fenech’s name in the list of shareholders in the consortium, but it was omitted from the final evaluation report.

“How can you explain that, in your own reports, this person was initially not there, he then appeared out of nowhere, and then disappeared again in the final report awarding the tender? What happened?” Fenech Adami asked again. Tonna again had no response.

Tonna could similarly not explain the reason behind a change in the name of the companies in the GEM consortium. Fenech Adami noted that one report signed by Tonna on the 9th October had listed CP Holdings as one of the three shareholders in the consortium, yet a second report signed just one day later, listed Associated Drug Company instead.

Asked whether he had raised any concerns about this, Tonna said he had not, insisting that Apop Bologna’s role was that of an investor and therefore it did not make a difference which of his companies he was using to make the investment.

Regarding his relationship with Konrad Mizzi, Tonna said he had treated him like any other client, adding that he did not see anything wrong with creating offshore structures for the former minister shortly after he was involved in the tendering process for a project he was piloting.

Tonna denied having any knowledge of who owned the company 17 Black, telling the board that he had only learned it belonged to Fenech from media reports.

He said he had discussed the matter with former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri and had told him that he was ‘disgusted by it’.

“I don’t remember what exactly had happened but as far as I know it was the same owner,” he said.

On his relationship with Pilatus Bank, Tonna said he had a professional relationship with the bank. He said he had been introduced to the bank’s chairman but had never met him outside the bank. “I wasn’t invited to his wedding,” Tonna quipped.

What do you make of Tonna’s responses?

READ NEXT: Raymond Aquilina Was Gifted An Apartment Yorgen Fenech Sold To His Parents At A Reduced Rate, Sources Claim

Yannick joined Lovin Malta in March 2021 having started out in journalism in 2016. He is passionate about politics and the way our society is governed, and anything to do with numbers and graphs. He likes dogs more than he does people.

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