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Matthew Vella
A VISIT to Dubai by a delegation of Labour MPs and contractors known to be close to the party, has caught the attention of local media in the Arabian peninsula as the Nationalist Party attempts to paint an image of scandal on the delegation visit.
Labour sent a delegation of MPs to meet Dubai entrepreneurs and Tecom Investments, the proposed developers of the Smartcity internet village. But they were also accompanied – unknown to the media at the time – by four building contractors who are close to the party. The story sullied Labour leader Alfred Sant’s claims of “friends of friends” and other patronage networks belonging solely to the government.
Gulfnews.com reported earlier this week that the issue had “blown up at a sensitive time”, following as it does the announcement that Dubai’s Tecom Investments would invest more than USD300 million in the development of a media and internet hub in Malta modelled on Dubai’s Media and Internet City.
The four contractors who came up to Dubai with deputy leader Charles Mangion and public works shadow minister Charles Buhagiar were Carmelo Penza, Denis Baldacchino, Ray Vella, and Patrick Dalli, the latter the husband of Labour MP Helena Dalli.
Gulfnews.com quoted a journalist saying the government has seized on the trip and that the row had created “uncertainty” about whether Tecom Investment’s planned involvement in the Smart City internet and media centre on the island could be affected, although the four firms involved are not linked to the project. |
