EMEA News
Tainted Malta Bunker Supplier Won Contract Extensions
A bunker supplier implicated in a bribery and corruption scandal in Malta had its contract extended and rates increased by energy company Enemalta, the Times of Malta reports.
Enemalta extended Island Bunker Oils' fuel transport contract for 26 consecutive months without any calls for tenders.
A government audit said Enemalta's explanation for the extensions, that they were justified due to the planned privatisation of the petroleum division was "tenuous."
The energy company mentioned privatisation in a number of statements starting in 2006, but the industry has still not been privatised.
Island Bunker Oils, which is based in Malta, was awarded its first six-month contract with Enemalta in January 2008, involving the barge transportation of diesel and kerosene, and the contract was later extended for 26 months, with a rate increase.
Enemalta said the higher rate represented the cost of importing diesel with lower sulphur content, which required Island Bunker Oils to clean the barges before transportation.
The audit said that the contract extensions "at best" were "an affront to the principles of good governance."
Earlier this year, three directors of Island Bunker Oils, Anthony Cassar, Francis Portelli and Tancred Tabone, were charged with bribery and trading in influence in a court case involving preferential treatment given to the company when Tabone was chairman at the state energy corporation.
The charges were related to a larger scandal that unfolded earlier this year around Enemalta's fuel procurement activities.
