The Public Accounts Committee finally managed to host former Minister Konrad Mizzi to answer questions about the Electrogas power station deal. The meeting took place after several weeks where Konrad Mizzi was reported to evade the committee’s questioning. In total, he was summoned for four times.
What should have been a questioning turned out to be quite a brawl as both Konrad Mizzi and PN MP Beppe Fenech Adami traded blows. During the session, Konrad Mizzi criticised the former Nationalist party administrations, highlighting the important role he played in reducing utility prices. During the meeting he referred to Beppe Fenech Adami’s perceived privileged position, highlighting that he should stop acting like royalty just because his father is former Prime Minister and President Eddie Fenech Adami.
During his deposition, Konrad Mizzi emphasised on the state of the issues he encountered when taking over after the Nationalist party was in government. He emphasised on the utility bills which were expensive and that Enemalta was bankrupt. He stated that the Labour party managed to fix these problems, with the Nationalists deeming their resolution as impossible.
The brawl ended up being quite personal with Konrad Mizzi labelled as “corrupt” whilst turning to Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina to wipe the smile off his face. During this trade-off, Beppe Fenech Adami stated that Konrad Mizzi was abandoned by the Labour party and that it wanted nothing to do with him. Countering this, Konrad Mizzi said that the Nationalist party was repeatedly rejected by voters.
The Labour members within the Public Accounts Committee were silent for the most part, except for MP Glenn Bedingfield who implored the PN MPs to stop interrupting Konrad Mizzi. During the deposition, Konrad Mizzi stated that he would only answer questions after he gave his statement. The meeting took two hours, however none of the Public Accounts Committee members managed to put forth any questions to Konrad Mizzi.
The reason for this emphasis surrounding the Electrogas deal relates to the controversy it finds itself in, all the more so after Yorgen Fenech was charged with complicity to murder Daphne Caruana Galizia, who wrote extensively about the alleged corruption of it all.
At the end of the meeting, when asked by journalists, Konrad Mizzi stated that he will discuss further with the Public Accounts Committee in the future.
