St Philip’s deal signing rumors denied

Rumors of a rushed signing of the St. Philip's acquisition deal to take place on Monday morning were dispelled by the Ministry of Finance as well as Portelli himself.

On Sunday morning, the Labour Party's news portal maltastar.com reported that the lease agreement between government and Dr Frank Portelli for the acquisition of St. Philip's "is expected to be signed n Monday 22 October 2012 morning."

The website also reported that Portelli's lawyers were given a draft copy of the documents to be signed.

But when contacted by MaltaToday, Dr Frank Portelli denied the claim categorically.

"Till this time, I have not heard anything about it," he told MaltaToday on Sunday morning. "Nobody has spoken to me about any agreement signing."

He also denied the suggestion that he had been provided with a draft copy of the acquisition agreement.

"I have not even glimpsed a finalized version of the agreement," Portelli insisted.

Also contacted by MaltaToday, Public Accounts Committee Chairman and Labour MP Charles Mangion similarly said that he was unaware of any contract signing scheduled to take place on Monday morning."

He added that to the best of his knowledge, "the contract hadn't been finalized up till Friday afternoon."

Mangion however stressed that if Government intended to go ahead with the signing before the Public Accounts Committee was able to scrutinize the deal, it would send a negative message over how government views proper transparency and scrutiny.

"I felt that there should be scrutiny before the signing takes place," Mangion stressed, that the PAC committee was more than willing to be flexible time-wise in order to accommodate the discussion.

He insisted that where government to forge ahead with the acquisition deal before the PAC is able to scrutinize the agreement, "it would be disrespectful towards parliament, as well as the Maltese people."

He insisted that it is in the national interest that the PAC be given the opportunity to scrutinize the deal, "to ensure that the people are aware of the commitments that government will be entering into, the implications of those commitments, and government's justifications for entering into them."

MaltaToday is also awaiting a reaction from the Finance Ministry.