Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/484780
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 25 MARCH 2015 5 News Former MRA director bought €250,000 home without need of bank loan Defendant says he had no friendship with oil trader George Farrugia MATTHEW AGIUS A court heard yesterday that sus- pended civil servant Godwin Sant had been providing services to both sides who were bidding in a private market tender on fuel stations, as well as having some €400,000 in undeclared assets which he could not account for. Superintendent Paul Vassallo, from the economic crimes unit, gave the information in testimony before Magistrate Aaron Bugeja in the compilation of evidence against former MRA director Godwin Sant, who is charged with bribery, tax evasion and money-laundering. He was until recently seconded to the ministry for energy and water conservation. Sant was arrested the same day that MaltaToday broke the story that oil giant Trafigura had gifted him with football tickets for a Liv- erpool-Arsenal match, at the be- hest of pardoned oil trader George Farrugia. Vassallo said that after being ar- rested, Sant exercised his right to remain silent on the advice of his lawyers. The next day he told the police that the football tickets gift was nothing but "a storm in a teacup", and that he was given the tickets because he wanted to see a particular game but could not find tickets. He was not sure if Farrugia had paid for them. €400,000 'unaccounted for' In their investigations, police found that Godwin Sant had select- ed the winning bidder for a 2009 tender by the GRTU on standards in petrol stations, after having consulted both Fritz Energy, a sub- sidiary of the Famalco Group, and b.Nel. Fritz won the tender on the basis of a lower cost, but Vassallo said that Sant had never declared his conf lict of interest in that Famalco director Hermann Mallia had been his client. Vassallo told the court that Sant said he felt no need to de- clare his conf lict having "assisted the company on a different aspect of their operations". The police also claimed that Fritz Energy was chosen despite having "no experience in the sector", as op- posed to b.Nel. The police also told the court that Sant purchased a house worth €250,000 without taking out a bank loan, and had made large deposits in his accounts. In total €400,000 in assets were unaccounted for, in- cluding his house, but his income declarations did not tally with this. Sant denied having had anything to do with fuel importation, but the police were told by MRA chief executive Anthony Rizzo that Sant had failed to declare his private in- terests. Vassallo however told the court he had found that Sant accompa- nied Farrugia to a hydrogen fuel conference abroad to assist him in a presentation, something he did in his private capacity as an alter- native energy engineer. He was not paid for the service but was give a per diem allowance and had his travel costs reimbursed. Sant was also director of two com- panies, Wurth Ltd and Estramento, which provided offshore services. Private clients Police found considerable deposits from 2008 and 2009 which were not connected to his government in- come or his lecturing duties at the University of Malta. He was paid with cheques from Playmobil, E Calleja & Sons, EMDP and Famalco. The prosecution listed deposits of €7,800 from Playmobil in return for a photovoltaic project, multiple deposits of €1,000 from E Calleja and Sons for assisting in the transition after death of the manag- ing director, and two cheques total- ling €8,000 from EMDP for petrol station plans and alternative energy projects. In addition, police also found four payments of €5,000 from Famalco, after Hermann Mallia had appoint- ed Sant to interview two engineers for employment. No reports or writ- ten evidence that he had carried out any work were found, bar his pro- viding an estimate. Vassallo said that no VAT had been declared on the Famalco job, unlike the others. He added that Famalco had pro- cured permits for three petrol pumps without owning plots for their siting. "I mention this be- cause the 2008 estimate for service rendered had mentioned some 210 hours," said Vassallo. "In mid-2008, two further payments of €10,000 were made that would have covered 400 hours – we were already finding it hard to find justification for the 200, let alone the 400." Sant would not answer questions about this, added the inspector. Insider information Police Inspector Jonathan Ferris from the ECU confirmed Vassallo's testimony, saying that when ques- tioned, oil trader George Farrugia said he had been told by Sant he could not find tickets for a football match. "It so happened that Total and Trafigura had block tickets and had given two to Sant. He went to the match with Carmelo Said who works at Enemalta," Ferris said. He described Sant as being very uncooperative and that he would not answer any questions. Ferris said that Sant had put Fritz Energy in touch with EMDB to car- ry out studies on petrol stations. He said that of four payments of €5,000, one cheque was addressed to him but the other three were addressed to be cashed. "Unfortunately for Sant, he had signed the cheques on the back and deposited them in his personal account." Sant conceded to the police that there may have been other pay- ments. Ferris exhibited an email sent by Sant from his Gmail account to George Farrugia, attached to which is a draft legal notice on the con- trol of organic emissions, which had been revealed to MaltaToday. "The document was supposed to be secret, yet Sant had decided to for- ward it to Farrugia." The inspector added that Sant has continued to stubbornly refuse to allow police to access his Gmail ac- count, in spite of being offered sev- eral opportunities to come clean. Sant betrayed no emotion as he sat in dock, taking notes as the prosecu- tion made their submissions. Defence lawyer Edward Gatt asked for confirmation whether the only irregular large deposits that had been found were four cheques of €5,000 each. "There are no houses mentioned in the charges, only the cheques," said the lawyer. "You mentioned four cheques of €5,000 each. According to you, is the illicit sum €20,000?" The magistrate however, pointed out that the charge of money laun- dering covers the cheques and all assets of unknown provenance, for which no reasonable explanation had been given. Lawyers Edward Gatt and Mark Vassallo assisted the accused. The case will continue in the coming weeks. MATTHEW AGIUS MAGISTRATE Consuelo Scerri Herrera yesterday began hearing the compilation of evidence against Ray Ferris, formerly the Chief Projects Officer at energy provider Enemalta, who is accused of corruption and re- ceiving gifts from disgraced oil trader George Farrugia. Ferris told the court that Farrugia had invited him for Christmas drinks in 2008 at his office, where instead the oil trader badgered him about a petroleum tender. "He said that if I succeed in getting him the tender, he would offer me a job. I didn't say yes, but I didn't say no either. I was happy at Enemalta and was going to end up with a conflict of interest." Ferris said Farrugia had told him that he was going to open a new pet- rol station and that Ferris would be in charge of the marketing aspect. "I told him that I couldn't say whether he would win the tender or not, but he spent the next 15 minutes telling me how he intended to operate the petrol station should he be awarded the tender." Ferris claimed that as he was getting into his car, Farrugia handed him a box wrapped in brown paper and two small red packages, saying they were Christmas gifts for him. "As I was leaving, he asked me to put a word in for him. I was shocked and my fight or flight instinct kicked in and I drove off. But as I got to my office, I found a crystal bowler and two crystal bomboniers the size of a can of tuna. They spent a year in my cabinet." Ferris said Farrugia had wanted him to influence the board adjudicating the 16 petroleum companies which had submitted expressions of inter- est. He explained that a preferred bid- der had already been selected by the time Farrugia made his approach. Of the 10 companies which even- tually competed for the tender, Far- rugia's company, PowerPlan, was not first or second choice. Ferris said he did not report the gifts, fearing this would backfire on him and he was apprehensive about losing his job. He was his family's sole breadwinner. "I was like a mouse try- ing to get to my nest through a pack of lions," he said, referring to Enemalta chairman Alex Tranter. "After Karl Baldacchino was ap- pointed [as CEO], I knew that Far- rugia would talk to Baldacchino and I would see him talking with Pippo Pandolfino, Chief Financial Officer. He was also friends with Frank Sam- mut, and Tancred Tabone. I feared that I would be sacked if I told them that I had received three items from Farrugia." Ferris said Enemalta was "just like Pavi [supermarket]" with clients bringing in hampers to the state util- ity corporation. Ferris was subsequently called in for questioning by the police, who repeatedly accused him of receiving four gifts worth €2,000 each and of asking George Farrugia for €40,000 in exchange for the tender, accusations which he consistently denied. "This back-and-forth exchange continued till the next morning," he said. "I always kept George Farrugia at arm's length," said Ferris. "I had never spoken to anybody about the adju- dication board for that tender. I was entrusted with an important project and this would have caused embar- rassment." As he represented the corpora- tion in the Privatisation Unit, Ferris explained, he would maintain con- fidentiality. "In fact someone had re- ported me for keeping the others in the dark." Ferris said he believed that the trou- ble had started when he had refused to sign the BWSC contract. After that he began to be marginalised. "When George Farrugia gave me those two gifts, I was placed in an embarrass- ing situation. I always worked in good faith. Those were the first and last gifts I received from George Farrugia. I did not have a friendship with Far- rugia beyond business." www.maltatoday.com.mt MANAGER Mediatoday is seeking the services of a full time highly motivated manager with multi-tasking and organisational skills. Having experience of identifying the needs of customers and of running a media and publishing business. Possessing a significant record of achievement in human resources management and able to quickly understand the mission, vision and values of an organisation. WORK EXPERIENCE Working in a fast-paced team oriented environment. Managing a client portfolio and having revenue and account management responsibility for key accounts. DUTIES Working closely with the Director. Gaining a strong knowledge and understanding of a clients' brand and products. Organising regular team meetings with staff and directors. Involved in the day to day management, Performance monitoring. KEY SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES Account management skills. Strong leadership skills. Ability to follow up with clients in a timely professional manner. Good knowledge of human resources management. A successful track record in new business development. Ability to work long hours, often under pressure. Ref: MANAGERMT032015 JUNIOR ACCOUNTANT MediaToday is seeking the services of a full time junior accountant who is responsible for all areas relating to financial reporting. This position will be responsible for developing and maintaining accounting principles, practices and procedures to ensure accurate and timely financial statements. This position addresses tight deadlines and a multitude of accounting activities including general ledger preparation, financial reporting, year-end audit preparation and the support of budget and forecast activities. RESPONSIBILITIES & DUTIES Obtain and maintain a thorough understanding of the financial reporting and general ledger structure. Ensure an accurate and timely monthly, quarterly and year end close. Ensure the timely reporting of all monthly financial information. Assist in the daily banking deposits and transactions. Ensure the accurate and timely processing of pay transactions. Ensure Bank activities are performed in a timely and accurate manner. Supports budget and forecasting activities, Credit control, Issuing of invoices, Payments, Inventory, Handle personnel issues, absenteeism, performance issues, etc. REF: ACCOUNTANTMT032015 Closing date: 25/03/2015 Write in confidence to the The Managing Director, MediaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN07 Or email application to: bcfreddi@mediatoday.com.mt VACANCIES Godwin Sant