Muscat told Konrad Mizzi to answer PAC questions and not fall for MP provocations

Former prime minister Joseph Muscat had told Konrad Mizzi to answer questions put to him during public accounts committee hearings.

During an interview with Lovin Malta, Muscat said that he speaks to Konrad Mizzi every week or so. On the PAC hearings, Muscat said that he disagreed with Mizzi evading questions on the Electrogas project, and had told him directly that he should answer to the committee.

“I told him that I disagree with him not answering the questions because I think the answers he can give could be very good,” Muscat said. “He has legal advice on this, but I told him that he should answer and not fall for the provocation.”

Konrad Mizzi’s PAC meetings have been marred by hysterics, missed hearings, and at times complete evasion of questions put to Mizzi by the MPs on the committee.

He initially refused to face MPs over the Electrogas project, dubbing the PAC meetings as a partisan attack on the energy project.

The PAC has members from both sides of the House. It is currently carrying out a follow-up grilling on the National Audit Office’s report into the Electrogas power station.

On the Montenegro wind farm scandal, Muscat said he had no knowledge of the secret transaction behind the deal that saw Yorgen Fenech pocket €4.6 million from Enemalta’s purchase on the Montenegrin wind farm in 2015.

“I spoke to him about this and he told me he was unaware of it, and that there was a due idligence process that did not earmark this point. I definitely wasn’t aware of it.”

Sa Maison office part of severance package

Muscat was given access to Sa Maison office, a government property, after his resignation as PM. The building was part of Muscat’s severance package, which totalled €120,000.

“I’m not paying a cent on the office. It’s a couple of rooms,” Muscat said of the space.

He added that the office is in the name of the Office of the Prime Minister. He is merely tolerated there, and the Prime Minister can kick him out whenever he pleases.

“I’m not the first Prime Minister to receive something like this,” Muscat said.

Police searched Muscat’s Sa Maison office last month as part of a corruption probe into the Vitals Global Healthcare hospitals deal. The search was carried out on the same day his private residence was raided by police.

Financial crime investigators entered Muscat’s house at 7am and spent at least three hours on the property, seizing his mobile phone, along with those of his wife Michelle Muscat and their two daughters.