Minister deploys her consultant to attack PN energy proposals

Former Enemalta chairman Jonathan Scerri, a government-paid consultant whose public career was built through Labour-era appointments, has become a vocal critic of the Nationalist Party’s energy proposals while continuing to benefit from direct orders issued by the same administration he publicly defends.

Scerri recently published an opinion piece in The Sunday Times of Malta to attack the PN’s proposals to further reduce energy costs. His comments were later amplified by Labour’s ONE TV, which presented him as an independent engineering expert offering neutral analysis on the country’s energy future.

Research by The Shift shows that Scerri remains financially tied to the Labour government through consultancy agreements and direct orders linked to Energy Minister Miriam Dalli.

According to Government Gazette records, in January 2023, shortly after resigning from his position as Enemalta chairman, a role handed to him by Dalli, Scerri received a €50,400 direct order to provide “energy-related technical advice” to the ministry.

He was also awarded two additional direct orders through the Water Services Corporation, totalling almost €20,000. The contracts were issued separately within a few months of each other, keeping each below the public tender thresholds. The Water Services Corporation also falls under Dalli’s political responsibility.

The ethics of presenting Scerri as an impartial commentator while he remains dependent on government contracts and appointments is questionable.

“His arguments may be technically valid, but portraying him as some independent guru is misleading. He agreed to be used for his own benefit,” one source said.

An engineer by profession, Scerri spent most of his career employed by Enemalta. After Labour returned to power in 2013, he was appointed to several state boards and energy-related entities, steadily consolidating his position within the government’s energy infrastructure.

In 2021, he established Logika Advisory, an engineering consultancy specialising in assisting clients with government tenders and procurement processes.

Despite moving into private consultancy, his links to government remained firmly intact.

Scerri also found himself linked to the fallout from the controversial Mozura wind farm scandal, one of the most damaging episodes in Malta’s energy history.

The Montenegro wind farm acquisition was initially promoted as a strategic renewable energy investment by Enemalta. However, international investigations later exposed how the deal became entangled in allegations of kickbacks, offshore structures and politically connected intermediaries.

Enemalta acquired the Mozura project in 2015 for €10.3 million through a Seychelles company. Subsequent investigations revealed that the same asset had reportedly been purchased only weeks earlier for a fraction of the price, raising serious questions over who pocketed the difference.

During a recent parliamentary hearing, Scerri publicly admitted that the Mozura acquisition “was not in Malta’s interest”.

Yet despite chairing Enemalta during part of the fallout, he never publicly pursued accountability for the scandal.

Scerri is also currently the government-appointed chairman of the Malta Communications Authority, the country’s telecommunications regulator.