[WATCH] Miriam Dalli defends decision not to publish Montenegro wind farm audit yet

Energy Minister Miriam Dalli has defended her decision not to publish the internal Enemalta audit as of yet. 

In a parliamentary question answered yesterday, Dalli confirmed that the report has been passed on to the police to see if there is scope for further investigation on their side. 

She reaffirmed this today, insisting that the investigation needs to be carried out calmly.

"Once something is presented to potentially form part of a wider investigation, that investigation needs to be carried out untroubled before being published," she said. 

"Since the report is currently held with police, it would be premature to publish the report because it can prejudice any investigation that could be carried out."

Enemalta had invested in a windfarm project in Montenegro in 2015, after buying a stake in the project from Cifidex, a Seychelles-based company - but the shareholding was bought by Enemalta at a much higher premium than what Cifidex initially paid to acquire the project from a Spanish firm. 

An investigation by Reuters and Times of Malta last year revealed that murder suspect Yorgen Fenech's Dubai company 17 Black had profited from this deal through its business relationship with Cifidex, pocketing €4.6m in profit. 

Police have since started investigating the deal in collaboration with Europol.