Cardona defends ‘political decision’ to select legal firm for gaming contracts

Minister for the economy Chris Cardona lashed out at the previous administration over its lax dispensing of "hundreds of thousands, even millions" in euros for direct orders to consultants and legal firms from public entities.

Cardona has had to explain why he directly intervened in the adjudication of a contract for legal services in the gaming industry, with the minister claiming it was a political decision to change the criteria on which contracts were awarded.

Cardona is being accused of having instructed the Privatisation Unit which legal firm to choose in a recent competitive process for legal consultancy in the pre-drafting, adjudication, negotiations and final agreements of an expression of interest for the granting of two new casino licences.

At a press conference today, Cardona displayed raw nerve while fielding questions on the matter from Times reporter Ivan Camilleri.

"What was incorrect," Cardona said when asked whether it was proper for a minister to intervene in public tenders, "were the millions in direct orders awarded by the former government... I hope you don't agree with direct orders, because your brother used to agree with them," Cardona said referring to Alan Camilleri, formerly the executive chairman of Malta Enterprise and once spokesperson to Lawrence Gonzi.

"The direct orders used to be granted to the same five families," Cardona then said. "Ministers should have the power and competence to take such decisions."

In May 2013, a PU adjudication committee submitted a report for the minister's approval in which Filletti and Filletti Advocates was shortlisted as the winning bidder for the legal contract.

Cardona objected to the way the committee conducted its adjudication on grounds that "qualitative" factors such as the firm's expertise and capacity should be given more weight and ordered the award of the contract to another firm, Deguara Farrugia Advocates, which was re-ranked as first on the basis of this different criteria.

In a statement on Sunday, Cardona said that the process was not a tender, but a request for proposals where the adjudication board merely "gives advice" to the ministry.

The matter so far has prompted the resignation of the PU's chief, Manuel Ellul, on 13 May.

"I feel there are circumstances where the financial criteria should not be the make or break factor on their own but that there are other elements such as the expertise and the capacity of a law firm in this case," Cardona said. "We took a political decision, which we had a right to do because it was not a tender and I stand by it," he said, arguing that the case served as a test case of how the criteria should change for future expressions of interest.

"I would understand the doubt if we chastised a firm with ties to the Nationalist Party and rewarded one with ties to Labour but the opposite happened. The firm chosen has absolutely no links to the government," he said.