Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1523932
15 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 JULY 2024 NEWS Enemalta oil scandal evidence-gathering The Enemalta oil scandal The crucial piece of evidence in the Enemalta oil scandal was an invoice from 2004, made out to Dutch commodities giant Trafig- ura, by a former Enemalta con- sultant – Frank Sammut – for a 'consultancy fee' on the supply of oil to Enemalta. The money was requested to be paid into a Swiss bank account for a company that Sammut owned, in Gibraltar. That document confirmed the long-held speculation of kick- backs paid for purchases of oil for the state's energy corporation. A criminal police investigation was launched in 2013, with seven persons arraigned, but one man, George Farrugia – perhaps the chief instigator – was immediate- ly granted a presidential pardon to turn State's evidence. Farrugia was one of the siblings who ran the John's Group, specif- ically the importation of oil from such giants as Trafigura. Apart from siphoning off profits into his secret Swiss bank account – which would lead to civil action from his brothers – Farrugia was revealed to have created a system of bribes for various Enemal- ta officials, to ensure the fuel he imported from TOTSA and Tra- figura would be purchased by En- emalta. Farrugia claimed that, as a rep- resentative of the John's Group subsidiary Powerplan Ltd, the bribes had to take place simply to be "allowed to work", and that his brothers knew of the system. His counter-claim led to their prose- cution in court by police. Farrugia not only cut in Ene- malta's top people in his profits; his brothers accused him of fun- neling Powerplan's profits into his secret bank account, so in 2010 they sued him for over €40 million in alleged 'commissions' he took from Powerplan. The cache of emails present- ed in that case revealed various aspects of the relations between businessmen and politicians: one of them was the gift, a souvenir Tal-Lira clock constructed by Farrugia's own wife, for finance minister Tonio Fenech, of negligi- ble value; emails from Powerplan chairman Tony Debono to Law- rence Gonzi and other National- ist Party officials apparently sug- gested ways of assisting the PN, always hoping to curry influence with the powers that be; Farru- gia even transmitted some com- plaint from Swiss acquaintances travelling in Malta to Gonzi; and he held numerous meetings with former minister Austin Gatt, although never about fuel pro- curement, he claims – but he did donate €2,000 from John's Group for Gatt's 2008 electoral cam- paign (Gatt denies recalling the donation). It all sounds petty when com- pared to the systematic corrup- tion that the Panama Papers would later reveal – the true cen- tre of Malta's 'bribesville' estab- lishment. Farrugia claimed he paid some $400,000 in commissions to Sam- mut and Tabone up until around 2006, when both men were silent partners in a bunkering firm. Fair hearing delays The Enemalta oil scandal's prosecutions of 2013 were imme- diately crippled by court delays from the prosecution and the ac- tions of the Attorney General. The ineffectiveness of the Mal- tese prosecution in the oil scandal after 2013 were placed in a harsh light by the Constitutional Court, during a fair hearing complaint by former Enemalta functionary Tarcisio Mifsud – also accused, yet acquitted, by Farrugia of hav- ing accepted a gift or bribe. In 27 sittings for the compila- tion of evidence against Mifsud, nothing had happened in 15 of these sittings. Mifsud had been a member of the Enemalta fuel procurement committee as the State energy company's financial controller. He was accused along with for- mer Enemalta petroleum chief Alfred Mallia of corruption and trading in influence, largely on claims by Farrugia that he had paid them Lm40,000 (€100,000) in cash for him to win Enemalta tenders for the supply of oil. Mifsud, in his late 70s, protest- ed the extended duration of the proceedings against him. The At- torney General issued the bill of indictment to have Mifsud tried in a criminal court, but instantly delayed the possibility for a sum- mary procedure by conditioning the court to hear the testimony of co-accused Alfred Mallia and Tancred Tabone. "At his advanced age, he has every right to have these proceed- ings take place within a reasona- ble period of time, even as one of the co-accused Alfred Mallia passed away over the course of these delays. So what is the pros- ecution waiting for? That all the witnesses die, including Tarcisio Mifsud?" the Chief Justice said in his judgement. Money laundering case Also pending in court is the money laundering case against Francis Portelli and Tony Cassar: a judge has already ruled that the Attorney General had breached the fundamental human rights of the two men by delaying their case for over six years and or- dered the prosecution to close its evidence by the end of 2019. The two men are charged for their role as directors in Island Bunker Oils (IBOL) and subsid- iaries Eldaren Shipping, Oars- man Maritime, Anchor Oils, FP Holdings, AOH Ltd, Gringrams Holdings, Island Oils Holdings and Anchor Bay Maritime, for having corrupted Tancred Tab- one and Frank Sammut, between the years 2002 and 2005. Portelli and Cassar were also charged with complicity to trad- ing in influence in public tenders and money laundering. All suspects have remained ac- tive in business: Francis Portelli continued unhindered in busi- ness as 50% shareholder of Vir- tu Holdings, with the company issuing a €25 million bond in 2017. Cassar was photographed alongside the Pakistani business- man Shaukat Ali during a meet- ing with former President George Abela, sometime before 2014. Shaukat Ali today faces charges of corruption in the Vitals-Stew- ard hospitals PPP fraud. Judge Toni Abela George Farrugia Francis Portelli (centre) and Anthony Cassar (right)