Updated | Labour MPs refuse to attend PAC summer sessions

Updated Speaker's response and chairman's decision

The public accounts committee (PAC) will convene on Tuesday 8 August after receiving guidance from the Speaker on whether to hold sessions throughout parliament's summer recess.

Opposition members on the public accounts committee requested the Speaker’s intervention on Tuesay after government members announced they would not be attending sittings during summer recess.

According to the committee's chairman, Darren Carabott, the government members said they were only willing to fulfil their duty after parliament’s summer recess.

The Speaker has since responded to the letter and pointed out that no committee can meet without a quorum of four members. However, the Speaker also said that this matter should be discussed in the committee.

"[The Speaker] is aware that such work requires, as always, the common sense, goodwill and commitment of the members, and so [the Speaker] recommend that an agreement be found when the committee meets," the Speaker said.

It was later decided that the commitee will meet on 8 August to decide on a way forward.

In his letter to the Speaker, Carabott described the government MPs decision as an abuse of power.

“I feel that it is irresponsible and an abuse of power that a member of the committee, irrespective of the fact that they are the government’s parliamentary group whip, directly informs the witness Joseph Muscat that the meeting has been cancelled because the members of the government do not want to attend and so a quorum will not be reached,” the letter to the Speaker reads.

Carabott was referring to Andy Ellul, the Labour Party whip, who told Muscat not to attend Tuesday's meeting as a quorum would not be reached. The Speaker criticised this move, insisting that it is only the committee as a whole that has the power to call witnesses to testify, and not individual members.

The committee is currently reviewing the Auditor General’s report on all contracts awarded to Electrogas by Enemalta. Electrogas was the winning bidder in a government tender to build and operate a gas power station.

The concession has been riddled in controversy, especially after the audit report identified certain irregularities in the due diligence on the tender and in the bank guarantee provided by the government to Electrogas.

At the last committee session, former prime minister Joseph Muscat suggested that the National Auditor Office carry out a cost-benefit analysis on the Electrogas project.