‘Too little too late’ PN says on Owen Bonnici’s investigation into Kasco tender

Education Minister Owen Bonnici's probe of a paper supply contract awarded to Kasco Ltd days before the company owner was taken in for police questioning, is "too little too late", the Nationalist Party said.

On Wednesday, Times of Malta reported that Keith Schembri’s company, Kasco Limited, was awarded a €50,000 tender for the "supply and delivery of environmentally friendly xerographic paper for MCAST" just days before Schembri was taken in for questioning over the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case.

The Malta Government Gazette showed that the contract was awarded on 22 November 2019. Just four days later, the former chief of staff resigned from his post as the former PM’s aide.

Bonnici, who became education minister last week, said that he would be asking for an explanation into the matter after being alerted by the media.

"Naturally, there are legal aspects and one has to see whether there is the legal basis to withdraw a tender of a commercial entity. However, I am not going to hide behind legalisms and I will, therefore, be looking into this to evaluate things," Bonnici said.

The former justice minister also pointed out that the tender was not awarded when he was heading the education ministry.

But Bonnici's reply was insufficient for the Nationalist Party. Education spokesperson Clyde Puli described the minister's actions as "too little too late".

"Education Minister Owen Bonnici should have seen that action was taken in relation to Schembri when he was Justice Minister," Puli said.

The Opposition said that Bonnici lost his credentials to speak against corruption because he sat alongside Muscat and Robert Abela in defending Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri and wanted the Egrant report to remain hidden from the people.