The political career of former Maltese minister Konrad Mitzi has collapsed after the ruling Labor Party MPs decided to expel him for shady dealings, including a wind farm project in Montenegro.
Mici defied the party's leader, Prime Minister Robert Abela, and refused to resign, saying he had no reason to step down.
The deputies decided on the fate of the former star of the party in less than two hours, and 71 out of 73 votes were against Mici.
Abela said after the vote that the decision on Mici's dismissal was made because of his ties to the Panama Papers and the company of businessman Jorgen Fenek, accused of murdering journalist Dafna Caruana Galizia.
The Maltese newspaper Times of Malta and the British agency Reuters announced last Sunday that Fenek, through his company "17 Black", earned millions from the Možura wind farm project in Montenegro, which the Maltese state company Enemalta bought at the end of 2015.
Mizzi was the Minister of Energy at the time, and the leaked emails showed that through "17 Black" money was to be paid into the accounts of Panamanian companies owned by Mizzi and Keith Schembri, the chief of staff of former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
In the months before the murder, Caruana Galicia was on the trail of the offshore company "17 Black" registered in the United Arab Emirates.
She did not know who the owner was, but she was sure that it was founded for corrupt payments to the leaders of her country, she wrote on her blog.
Mici said he would continue to support Labor as an independent MP.
He will keep his seat in parliament because he only lost his party membership. MPs in Malta are directly elected and the parties do not decide who will hold the seat.
Mici denied any connection with "17 Black" or any personal influence regarding the awarding of the contract in Montenegro.
He also denies that he knew that Fenek, the richest Maltese, was involved in the project.
"Konrad Mizzi was never in my government. I am not condemning him legally, but politically," said Abela.
The Prime Minister said last Sunday that he was appalled by the allegations about the involvement of Fenek's company in the purchase of the wind farm between Bar and Ulcinj and requested a full investigation. The Maltese police announced that they have launched an investigation in cooperation with Europol regarding the suspicious business.
Enemalta launched an internal investigation
The company Enemalta announced that it did not know about the involvement of "17 Black" in the 2015 deal to buy Možura.
The announcement states that a detailed analysis of the project and its financial viability by "Shanghai Electric Power", the main investor, and international external legal and financial advisors, did not confirm the participation of "17 Black".
Fenek's company lent 2,9 million euros to "Cifidex", registered in the Seychelles, for the purchase of a wind power project from the Spanish company "Fersa Renovables".
Just a few weeks later, "Cifidex" sold the same shares to "Enemalta" for three times the price.
Half a year after "Enemalta" bought the shares, "Cifidex" returned the loan to Fenek's company, together with 4,6 million, which were marked as "profit".
Abela came to the defense of his predecessor Muscat, who as prime minister attended the construction of the Možura wind farm at the end of 2019.
"The only mistake that Joseph Muscat made was that he didn't remove Mitzi when he had to, and for that he paid the biggest political price," said Abela.
"If I were prime minister in 2016, one of my first decisions would be to dismiss Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi."
The rise and fall of Labour's star
Mici was a rising star during Malta's March 2013 elections, when the left-wing Labor Party returned to power after 15 years in opposition.
Mici was elected energy minister and oversaw several major projects, including a gas-fired power plant that was a key part of Labour's election platform. Until 2014, he was also assigned the department of health.
Labour's star lost its luster in April 2016, when the Panama Papers revealed he had set up a secret offshore company shortly after taking office.
Mici was the only minister from a member of the European Union who was exposed in the leaked data.
He has denied the allegations and Prime Minister Muscat has staunchly defended him despite widespread calls for him to resign. In 2017, after another Muscat victory, Mici found himself in the government again, this time as Minister of Tourism.
The prime minister ignored calls for an investigation into Mizzi's actions while he was energy minister.
The minister finally retires at the end of 2019, due to the crisis in the country, when Fenek became the main suspect in the murder of a journalist and anti-corruption activist, in a car bomb explosion in 2017.
Schembri also resigned following reports that he too had been questioned in connection with the murder. Prime Minister Muscat resigned in January 2020, but still sits in parliament.
A captive state
For more than five years, the Labor government has refused to take responsibility for Malta's reputation as a mafia state due to corrupt practices attributed to senior political and business figures.
"The impunity of politicians who abuse their powers, fail to ensure that the institutions of the state work independently of government interference, and the constant violation of the rule of law, will remain prominent threats to political normality and democracy if they are not directly addressed," writes "Times of Malta".
The Prime Minister recently forced the resignation of Labor Deputy Leader Chris Cardona.
The former Minister of Economy was also mentioned in the investigation regarding the murder of Caruano Galizia.
A new police commissioner was also appointed, and a new investigator replaced the police official responsible for financial crime investigations, who was the target of numerous criticisms.
"The Times of Malta" points out that these changes herald an encouraging shift, but that the cleanup has only just begun.
"Under Muscat's leadership, Malta experienced an economic boom, but it also suffered from state capture as private interests prevailed over the public interest."
The opening commentary adds that as long as he sits in the assembly, Malta's reputation will continue to suffer as stories linking him and his close associates to abuse of power will continue to surface.
The former prime minister to retire completely
"Scandals surrounding the privatization of electricity production facilities, the approval of private individuals to take over the management of three main public hospitals, and the investment of the Enema company in a wind farm in Montenegro, are some of the key abuses of power that marked Muscat's mandate. These are by no means closed chapters", writes the Maltese daily.
It is added that these scandals must be investigated, and not only by journalists, and that those who abused their position must be brought to justice. Muscat did not effectively address these abuses, "believing that electoral success gives him the right to forgive the sins of his administration." Muscat is now trying to resume public life in a brand new role as the government's political and economic consultant.
"Muscat should have no role, in any form, in the public administration of this country. His presence only prolongs her bad reputation," the comment concluded.
What did the murdered journalist write about Montenegro
The murdered journalist, who described Montenegro as "one of the most corrupt countries in the world" on her blog, first introduced the Maltese public to the Možura project on November 12, 2015, the day after the news was published in the Montenegrin media.
"The government of Montenegro is telling us what Konrad Mici has prepared this time. So much for the most transparent government in Malta's history. In order to find out at least something about what he is up to, we have to search the Internet for clips on the official websites of the governments of other countries".
It was announced on the website of the Government of Montenegro that Mici met with the Minister of Economy Vladimir Kavarić in Podgorica and that they agreed that Enemalta would buy the project on the Možura hill.
"We are very pleased that a very relevant company from an EU country has found an interest in investing in the energy sector and wind power projects in Montenegro," said Kavarić at the time.
An hour after Caruana Galicia published the information, Mici issued a statement to confirm that Enemalta and its Chinese partner had taken over the project.
Although Caruana Galicia had no information that Fenek's mysterious company earned 4,6 million euros from the project, she "smelled" something, describing the deal as "a very dubious settlement in a very dubious state."
She also noted that the agreement was signed amid political upheaval in Montenegro, when protesters on the streets demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Milo Đukanović.
Two months later, Caruana Galicija wrote about how OCCRP chose Đukanović as the person of the year in the field of organized crime and corruption in 2015.
"The Prime Minister and his subject, Konrad Mizzi, are currently messing around in Montenegro. That's why you won't be surprised when I tell you that Milo Đukanović in Montenegro received the Organized Crime and Corruption Award for 'Person of the Year' last year," the journalist wrote.
Muscat received the same award in 2019, largely for the murder of Caruana Galicia.
In a post in January 2016, Caruana Galicia wrote that Muscat and his "corrupt subject" Konrad Mizzi survive because "no one follows the trail of money from Baku, Beijing and now possibly Algeria and Montenegro, all the way to some hidden bank account".
Nationalist Party MP Jason Azzopardi, the lawyer of Caruana Galizia's family, said in parliament that the journalist was killed to stop the release of details about the wind farm scandal in Montenegro.
"There is still a lot that needs to be revealed about Montenegro," Azopardi said.
The Montenegrin opposition demands the initiation of a parliamentary investigation into the "Možura" affair.
See more:
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
