Even Montenegro has had enough of Malta’s dirty deals

Montenegro, one of the most corrupt states in Europe, sent its Deputy Prime Minister to rebuke Malta’s Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg.

Montenegro is increasingly frustrated that, ten years after Enemalta purchased the Montenegrin wind farm in Mozura for €10.3 million—through which Yorgen Fenech secretly profited €4.6 million via his hidden company 17 Black—Malta has still not charged anyone in court.

Deputy Prime Minister Momo Koprivica was outraged at the Attorney General and Police Commissioner’s lack of action.  He’s had enough of Malta dragging its feet and protecting those behind the scandal.

The statement issued by his office left nothing to the imagination. “Deputy PM Momo Koprivica emphasised the importance of jointly resolving the Mozura case, which is not only linked to high-level corruption but also to the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.”

There was no vague diplomatic language. It was brutally clear.

The Montenegrins publicly chastised Malta for its lack of cooperation.  “The duty to shed light on both the crime and the corruption stems not only from the resolutions of the European Parliament but also from the fundamental need to build a healthy society in which every attack on life, freedom of speech, and the work of journalists is sanctioned.”

In a damning rebuke to Malta’s obsequious Attorney General, he added: “The Government of Montenegro will do everything within its competence… to ensure that the Mozura affair and the murder of the brave journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia are fully clarified… the murder of a journalist is not merely a crime against an individual – it is an attack on society as a whole. Our answer must be truth and justice without compromise.”

It’s been five years since it was revealed that Yorgen Fenech secretly made a €4.6 million profit through his 17 Black company on Enemalta’s decision to buy that windfarm.  Enemalta bought those shares from Cifidex, knowing it was paying three times the price they were worth only two weeks earlier.

Cifidex belonged to Turab Musayev, a director on the Electrogas board with Yorgen Fenech, who gave Musayev the money to buy the Mozura shares through his Dubai-based company 17 Black. Then Musayev conveniently resold those shares to Enemalta with a huge markup days later.

The timing of that December 2015 Montenegro deal coincided with an email that Nexia BT sent out indicating how 17 Black would feed up to €2 million into Konrad Mizzi’s (energy minister at the time) and Keith Schembri’s (then OPM chief of staff) offshore financial structures.

The man behind the early negotiations on that Mozura scam was Cheng Chen, who also negotiated the €320 million sale of Enemalta to Shanghai Electric.  His mother-in-law was exposed as the owner of Macbridge, one of the two companies intended to pump money into Mizzi’s and Schembri’s offshore companies.

Cheng had another company linked to him called Dow’s Media, which received €1 million from Fenech’s 17 Black.

A magisterial inquiry concluded that Schembri and Mizzi were tied to Mozura’s “concealed €7.5million profit” and took an “active part” in planning and implementing the process.

When the scandal was exposed, Joseph Muscat, who inaugurated the Mozura project on his last overseas trip as prime minister, claimed he had no knowledge of Fenech’s or 17 Black’s connection.

Mizzi declared, “I have no connection whatsoever with 17 Black.”

But an email sent by Cheng Chen to Nexia BT’s Brian Tonna stated: “I assume Konrad has already briefed you about the situation: we need a valuation document to justify the acquisition fee of the Montenegro project.”

In 2017, an FIAU report flagged Mizzi’s frequent trips to Montenegro in the lead up to the windfarm deal.  That report detailing reasonable suspicion of criminal activity in Mizzi’s dealings was sent to the police in the spring of 2018.

Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa is still procrastinating.  Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg is still thinking about it.  No wonder Montenegro’s Deputy Prime Minister is so angry.

The government has done everything possible to keep the Montenegro windfarm scandal a secret. After intense media pressure, Enemalta commissioned a private firm to conduct a review of the Mozura windfarm.

The unnamed legal firm was hampered in its work by the failure of Enemalta to provide it with the emails of employees and its directors.  Enemalta claimed the emails of employees who had left the company were no longer available. And its directors did not hold a corporate email account and corresponded about sensitive Enemalta matters using personal email addresses.

The legal firm revealed that it could not comment on the investment appraisal process because there was no documentation.  This was a €10.3 million investment, and they claim that no records were kept of discussions, minutes, or decisions taken.

Despite the spokes in the wheels, that legal firm concluded that Enemalta knew it was paying triple the original price for its shares in the windfarm. It determined that “there were shortcomings with respect to corporate governance”.

Enemalta refused to publish that report, releasing only a brief “summary”.

Minister Miriam Dalli refused to commit to publishing that report when challenged about it in July 2022.  Three years later, she’s still hiding it.