Not in Miriam Dalli’s interest

Minister Miriam Dalli’s Enemalta has just lost another €60 million of our money. That’s on top of the €10 million that were spent on a wind farm in Montenegro worth just one third of that price. €4.6 million out of those €10 million went straight to Yorgen Fenech’s 17 Black.

Minister Dalli knew about the loss of those €60 million since August but kept it secret. She thought nobody would find out. She imagined she could just cover it all up and get away with it.

But Miriam Dalli’s ministry leaks like a sieve. No €60 million secret will remain secret for long. The Shift broke the story about how Enemalta had entered into a carbon trading deal with an unnamed Swiss intermediary only to discover that two years’ worth of Enemalta’s obligations under the EU Emissions Trading System had gone missing.

Miriam Dalli, the media savvy and attention-seeking minister, suddenly disappeared. She stopped holding press conferences. She stopped jumping into trenches to get photographed with Enemalta workers. She went completely silent.

The problem for Miriam Dalli is that not all of Enemalta belongs to the state. One third of the company belongs to China’s state-owned Shanghai Electric Power. It’s not clear whether Miriam Dalli kept the €60 million loss secret from the Chinese too.

But what’s certain is that Enemalta’s Chinese partners were incensed once they found out. They’re asking all sorts of questions. Who carried out the due diligence on the Swiss intermediary that ‘scammed’ Enemalta? And why did it take Miriam Dalli so long to find out that two year’s worth of carbon credits have gone missing?

When the Shift broke the story, Miriam Dalli refused to answer any questions. She refused to answer parliamentary questions about the €60 million debacle. Instead she got Enemalta’s Chairman Ryan Fava to hastily convene a press conference.

Chairman Fava admitted to the new gaping hole in Enemalta’s finances, but swiftly shoved the blame onto his predecessor. He pointed out that the deal was struck before he became Chairman – so he had nothing to do with it. He was only there trying to pick up the pieces and shield Minister Miriam Dalli, who was nowhere to be seen.

In his frantic efforts to reassure the public and Enemalta’s Chinese partners, Chairman Ryan Fava admitted that €60 million in carbon certificates could not be located but that Enemalta had recruited Maltese, UK and Swiss legal teams to try and recover the missing millions.

Maltese law firm Camilleri-Preziosi would lead the negotiations. A Swiss law firm was retained since the intermediary is Swiss. A reputable London-based law firm had been appointed to “manage the situation”, Chairman Fava reassured us.

Those multiple legal teams don’t come cheap. Millions more of our taxes are going to pay for them and Fava gave no guarantees that any of our €60 million will be recovered. He failed to identify who was responsible for this mess or who would take responsibility.

It’s certainly not Miriam Dalli, who conveniently stayed away from the whole mess. The Chairman wouldn’t even divulge the name of the Swiss intermediary. Although it’s our €60 million that’s gone missing, he wouldn’t even tell us who that Swiss scammer is.

Instead Fava stuck his neck out for that Swiss intermediary. He denied that the intermediary had “gone bankrupt”, insisting that the intermediary was “still operating”. Fava had no answers, which is why he wasn’t allowing many questions. Journalists were even barred from taking photographs or making recordings.

Enemalta was desperate to limit questions to save itself further embarrassment and to shield the Minister responsible from the inevitable fallout. Enemalta is already in dire straits, dependent on government subsidies to survive. In 2022 alone, Enemalta was given €250 million of taxpayers’ money to make ends meet.

Enemalta Chairman Ryan Fava even threatened the media, warning them of “unwarranted repercussions that may result from incorrect reporting on the matter”. If Enemalta wants to avoid incorrect reporting, why doesn’t the Energy Minister make a full parliamentary statement?

If Enemalta is so concerned about “incorrect reporting” why doesn’t it come clean and tell us who that Swiss intermediary is and what happened with our €60 million? Why doesn’t Enemalta publish its due diligence report on that Swiss intermediary?

Chairman Ryan Fava did everything he could in that press conference to minimise the enormity of that €60 million hole in Enemalta’s finances. Those trading activities, he told reporters, “form part of routine operations….such transactions are standard practice within the energy sector…it’s just part of a widely recognised international framework”.

Oh, so everything’s absolutely fine then. We don’t need to worry at all. Losing €60 million is just part of Enemalta’s “routine operations”.

Fava explained that there were eleven European Union Allowance transactions with that company –  only three failed to meet the stipulated deadlines. Pity that those three cost us €60 million.

To shut up the media and stonewall the public, Chairman Fava added that “legal discussions are still underway and that due to the ongoing nature of the case, no further details can be disclosed at this time in order to safeguard Enemalta’s legal and civil standing”. The message was loud and clear – stop asking awkward questions now.

Meanwhile Minister Miriam Dalli is being unusually coy. She hasn’t commented about the disaster. She hasn’t mentioned those €60 million in her usually prolific social media announcements.

She’s postponed several scheduled press briefings because she’s too embarrassed to face the media. She’s ignored reporters’ questions. She even refused to identify the Swiss intermediary in Parliament.

She didn’t provide any information whatsoever, citing ongoing litigation. She told Opposition MP Graham Bencini that releasing information is “not in Enemalta’s interest”.

The truth is that she won’t release any information about this absolute disaster because it’s not in Miriam Dalli’s interest.