Malta Enterprise ‘engaged’ Shiv Nair three weeks before Qatar meeting

British millionaire Shiv Nair's letter of engagement by Malta Enterprise was issued on 28 June 2013, three weeks before MaltaToday revealed that the energy guru was present in Qatar with energy minister Konrad Mizzi in a meeting with his Qatari counterpart.   

Nair's letter of engagement was tabled in parliament today by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat who reiterated that the British millionaire was never received a penny and was never officially engaged by the government.

Yet, in a letter dated 28 June, Malta Enterprise chairman Mario Vella wrote "I am pleased to confirm that Malta Enterprise is engaging you to identify concrete leads for investment promotion in China, the Middle East and South East Asia, including introductions to the individuals and companies concerned."

Vella also told Nair that he would be paid "a total of €6,000," adding that "we would expect to see concrete results before the end of the year."

Despite the letter of engagement, in a separate answer to a Parliamentary Question tabled by the leader of the opposition, Simon Busuttil, Muscat insisted that "as I have already publicly stated there is no contract between the person you are making reference to and the Maltese government."

He added that Nair never received any payment and reiterated that the government "was not informed" of the energy guru's World Bank debarment.

Currently, the government was still waiting for confirmation of Nair's blacklisting, Muscat said, stressing that the government "will not have the person being referred to by the Honourable MP work in its name."

In 2000, Nair, a consultant who styles himself as "China's secret weapon in Africa," was permanently debarred by the World Bank for engaging "in corrupt practices as defined by the Bank's Consultants' Guidelines."

Last week, Muscat said that despite carrying out a due diligence on Nair, he was unaware of the businessman's debarment before approaching him to help the government in its quest to attract foreign investment. Nair was also blacklisted by the bank for the second time after having tried to change his name.

Singing Nair's praises, Muscat said that the British businessman had "played an important role in setting up a very high level meeting between energy minister Konrad Mizzi and Qatar government officials."

Nair's career has been spent working with governments in Africa, the former Soviet Union states, and Latin America, as well as with a host of Chinese government-owned corporations CAMCE, CCECC, Sinopec, China Railways, CETC, China Shipbuilding and Sinoma.

His own company bio describes him as having been so successful on behalf of his Chinese clients, that the Economist magazine once dubbed him 'China's secret weapon in Africa'.

With an MBA in political risk from the Scottish Business School, in 1996 Nair was appointed the first foreign advisor in the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, a role that he replicated subsequently in several former Soviet republics.

Nair has specialised in working with the China Africa Development Fund and Chinese Exim Bank, advising countries on tapping into Chinese infrastructure financing. Among the projects he has been involved in are Chinese loans to Ecuador, the Ghana Rail Rehabilitation Facility, the South Sudan facility for dams on the Nile and the South Sudan-Uganda railway lines.

Among his past and present positions are political advisor to the president of Kalmykia, advisor on international finance to the deputy prime minister of Somalia, advisor on international finance to the minister of energy of South Sudan and advisor on international energy acquisitions to Poly Energy China.

He was also project advisor to CAMCE, CCECC, Sinopec, China Railways, CETC, China Shipbuilding and Sinoma - all Chinese, government-owned corporations.

Nair is also the managing director of the British North Borneo Company Ltd, whose headquarters is situated in Valletta. Described as a Maltese exploration and production company, the group includes British Borneo Oil and Gas, British Borneo Energy, Data Securitas Ltd and Premium Borneo Communications Ltd.

British Borneo Oil and Gas Ltd, a private Maltese company, focuses on the development of onshore and offshore, conventional and unconventional oil and gas projects in Asia and Africa.

Nair is also the managing director of British Borneo Holdings Ltd, a Maltese mini-conglomerate with interests in natural resources, shipping and manufacturing.