Legal complaints filed on Montenegro deal in which Enemalta lost millions

Aqra bil-Malti

A Spanish company has been hit by legal complaints for alleged multi-million-euro fraud related to the Montenegro wind farm, a project in which Enemalta lost millions.

The deal was made during the administration of disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat and handled by his-then ‘star’ minister Konrad Mizzi.

Both were forced to resign in 2019, along with Muscat’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, on corruption accusations.

The complaints filed against Spanish company Audax Renovables SA with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Securities Market Commission refer to fraud and the disappearance of €7.4 million.

The complaints were filed by an intermediary from Montenegro, who was involved in the deal as a consultant.

The Shift first revealed corruption in the deal in 2020, following a cross-border investigation that found the money that disappeared was transferred to the private accounts of Montenegrin, Azerbaijani, and Maltese individuals as kickbacks.

Millions disappeared

The Shift’s investigation found the Mozura wind farm project was haunted by allegations of corruption from day one.

Intermediaries involved in the wind farm project in Montenegro told The Shift: “Those in the government of Montenegro found the people of their kind in Malta who they could do business with and split the proceeds”.

The investigation found that shareholders in the Electrogas deal in Malta got involved in this project, using Enemalta to generate millions in personal profits.

These include SOCAR’s Turab Musayev and Yorgen Fenech.

Musayev, who represented Azerbaijan’s interest in Electrogas, used an offshore company – Cifidex – to purchase 99% of the shares in Montenegro’s Mozura wind farm for €2.9 million in 2015.

Two weeks later, Musayev used the same offshore company to sell the shares to Enemalta plc for €10.3 million.

After Cifidex sold the shares to Enemalta, the offshore company repaid the €3 million to 17 Black plus an additional €4.6 million “profit share”.

Apart from Fenech and Azerbaijani interests, Montenegrin officials were also reported to have taken a cut from the exorbitant price Enemalta paid for the shares.

That investment ended up in the hands of the Chinese government, which then acquired the deal, thanks to Enemalta, whose only role seems to have been to facilitate the acquisition and enable those involved to profit.

Jonathan Scerri, Enemalta chairman between 2021 and 2022, admitted to a parliamentary committee that the deal was not in the company’s interest. Yet he said he took no action, saying he was focusing on other issues at the time.

An audit report prepared by the legal firm Mamo TCV was concluded in 2021, but Enemalta kept it under wraps until 2023.

The audit showed that Enemalta knew full well that it was paying a heavily exaggerated price for the deal struck by disgraced prime minister Joseph Muscat and former energy minister Konrad Mizzi.

Press investigations found Yorgen Fenech, involved in yet another shady deal with the government, made millions from the project through his offshore company 17 Black.

Taxpayers lost millions, while those involved behind the scenes made millions in profit.

Fixers, bribes and kickbacks

The legal complaints against Audax Renovables SA were filed by an intermediary in the deal, Ivan Popovich.

He stated that the Spanish company signed a deal on the project with a “non-existent company”.

Despite this, payments were made to the daughter of a senior official of the country’s Federation of Trade Unions, in what he alleged were kickbacks.

He insisted Audax Renovables SA transferred the deal illegally. The company had won the government tender and lacked permission to transfer ownership of the project.

He alleged 10 crimes, including money laundering, fraud and bribery.

Those involved in the deal in Malta, including former prime minister Joseph Muscat, his minister Konrad Mizzi, and his chief of staff Keith Schembri, are facing a string of criminal charges related to another fraudulent deal involving three of Malta’s public hospitals.