Carthy to contact EU Ombudswoman over latest revelations concerning Broadband bidders
Speaking on Monday following revelations that Cube Infrastructure Managers had been involved in an attempted takeover of Enet, Sinn Féin MEP Matt Carthy said:
“Latest revelations concerning Cube Infrastructure Managers biddings in Ireland prove that the broadband process is rotten to the core.
“Before the summer I discovered that Cube Infrastructure Managers, a Luxembourg based capital investment company, had been appointed as managers of a EUR 500 million EU fund for broadband without a public procurement process.
“Despite the European Commission and EIB initially assuring me that the necessary procedures had been complied with, I now have confirmation that no public procurement process took place for this contract with the Connecting Europe Broadband Fund and that the award notice is being treated as confidential.
“In fact I am still waiting on responses from both the European Commission and the European Investment Bank as to misleading statements given to me through parliamentary questioning related to this award.
“The European Investment Bank has not made this award of tender public and has repeatedly delayed requests for information from my office as to the specific amount of money Cube Infrastructure will earn as a result of this award. Initial investigations reveal it could be as much as €7 million a year, for up to 20 years.
“The fact that we now know that Cube Infrastructure were involved in an attempted takeover of Enet in Ireland means that these procedural deficiencies could have very serious implications.
“If Cube Infrastructure Managers were involved in a takeover of one of the last remaining bidders of the National Broadband Plan in Ireland, then under no circumstances should they also be benefiting from, and responsible for the management of a multi-million euro fund at EU level.
“It is urgent that the European Commission and EIB immediately make the award notice for the Connecting Europe Broadband Fund public. I will be contacting the European Ombudswoman’s Office to request that they ensure that this happens without delay”.
ENDS
Parliamentary Question 3 April 2018: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-8-2018-001979_EN.html?redirect
Written Response 15 May 2018:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-8-2018-001979-ASW_EN.html
Parliamentary Question 13 September 2018: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-8-2018-004646_EN.html?redirect
