This article is the second in a series by Godfrey Leone Ganado digging up the background to the 17 Black scandal.
I would like to start by recommending that you read my first article and also that you refer to an article published in The Malta Independent on 20 May 2018, penned by David Lindsay under the title of ‘Gaping hole in Gasol audited accounts after Malta exit’.
In this my second article, I will review the shareholding in the company, starting from June 2014, when Enemalta Corporation transferred its 10,000 shares in Malta Power and Gas, which eventually changed its name to Electrogas Malta Limited.
The shares were transferred as follows:
- Gasol LNG Import Limited, registered in UK – 3,000 shares
- Gem Holdings Limited, registered in Malta – 3,000 shares
- Siemens Projects Ventures, registered in Germany – 2,000 shares
- Socar Trading SA, registered in Switzerland – 2,000 shares
The above shares were transferred by Enemalta at the nominal value of €1 each. This value is shown in note 6, ‘Investment in Associate’, of the audited financial statements of Gem Holdings for the year ended 31 December 2014.
One cannot refer to the financial statements of the other shareholders, as these are foreign and therefore do not report to the MFSA.
On 22 July 2015, Gasol, transferred its shareholding of 3,000 shares, as follows:
- Siemens Projects – 1,333 shares
- Gem Holdings – 334 shares
- Socar Trading – 1,333 shares
As a result of this transfer, the new shareholders became Gem Holdings with 3,334 shares, Siemens with 3,333 shares and Socar with 3,333 shares making up a total of 10,000 shares equivalent to a Capital of €10,000.
It is important to note that the above transfer of shares was made on the same day that Konrad Mizzi transferred his Panama company, Hearnville, into his New Zealand Rotorua Trust.
At this stage, Gasol was voluntarily struck off the UK Register on 30 October 2018.
As you are surely aware, one of the mysteries of the transfer of the 3,000 shares by Gasol, has always been the price at which this transfer was made, which has remained undisclosed.
Today, I have the pleasure of stating that, according to my calculations, the price was €2.55 million.
I will now state how I arrived at this amount.
In note 6 to the audited financial statements of Gem Holdings for the year ended 31 December 2015, which incidentally are audited by Nexia BT, who I challenge to prove me wrong, the investment at 1 January 2015 which was showing at €3,000 (the shareholding before the above transfer), went up by €283,911 representing the value of the 334 shares acquired from Gasol.
Using this value for 334 shares and applying it to the 3,000 shares transferred by Gasol (see above), will give a value of €2.55 million, that is €850 per share which cost €1.
This means that Gasol made a profit of Euro 2.54 million from flipping this contract.
It also means that the total value of the 10,000 shares in Electrogas is €8.5 million.
It is also important that I highlight that this value is the value of the shares in July 2015, which is even before works had commenced on the Konrad Mizzi Power Station.