Dragonara blasts 'pathetic excuses' for dismissing casino tender board

Dragonara Gaming have rejected as ‘hollow and pathetic excuses’ the government’s reasons for dismissing a board that was set up to evaluate casino licence bidders.

A government report drawn up following Economy Minister Chris Cardona’s decision to dismiss the adjudicating board shows that there were three potential conflicts of interest in that board, the Malta Independent reported on Friday. Following the board’s dismissal, the tender was awarded to Eden Leisure Ltd despite their financial offer of €1.25 million being around €3 million lower than that of Dragonara, who placed second.

“All the members of that same technical committee, chosen we assume for their competence, were appointed by the Ministry or the Privatisation Unit itself,” Dragonara said in a statement. “We assume this was done after some thought and deliberation. It is therefore baffling and not credible that the Minister had to dismiss this technical committee due to the fact that, allegedly, he had second thoughts on the suitability of some of the members on that committee.”

The government report says that board member Kevin James Fenech, a managing director of a business advisory firm that gives strategic advice to the Malta International Airport, could have had a conflict of interest. The reason was that the Bianchi family is both a major shareholder of Dragonara and a minor shareholder of the MIA.

“This is the lamest of smoke screens,” Dragonara said. “The Bianchi family members are in the same position as the other 6,500 shareholders of the MIA and have no entitlement to its management. Ironically, the government itself holds 20% of the shareholding of MIA and has a guaranteed seat on the board. This makes Cardona’s assertion of conflict of interest on the part of the Bianchi family a joke in bad taste, were it not such a serious matter.”

The report goes on to suggest that a second board member, Jesmond Pace, could have had a conflict of interest because he had formed part of the Lotteries and Gaming Authority board back when the Dragonara Casino was awarded a 10-year licence in 2010. The report also names Kevin James Fenech’s wife and business partner Roberta Fenech Gauci who, despite not sitting on the recently-dismissed committee, had formed part of the same LGA board.

“This in itself being cause for conflict is yet another hollow and pathetic excuse clearly intended to cast doubt and construct a conspiracy where none exists,” Dragonara said. “The concession granted for the Dragonara Casino in 2010 was on the basis of a ‘best and final offer’ submitted in sealed envelopes, opened and read in public in the presence of government officials.”

Dragonara last month called for an injunction, alleging flaws in the casino licence selection process and a court temporarily issued an injunction on talks between Eden and the government. After the court lifted the injunction, Cardona said that “the government was proven right”.

“The court turned [Dragonara’s injunction request] down because it did not find it ‘necessary’ to protect our right to be dealt with fairly,” Dragonara said. “However the court did find that we have a right to protect. It also made it clear that the government has no absolution.

“This latest twist to this farce is in fact outright confirmation that the evaluation process was a circus disguised as an official procedure intended solely to legitimise a foregone conclusion which the Government wanted to arrive at from the very start of the process.”