The police have enough evidence to issue charges on the oil bribery case that has rocked Enemalta, but still have more witnesses to interview before closing the case, The Times has learnt.

The final decision will have to involve Attorney General

Interrogators have interviewed intensively the man at the centre of the allegations, petrochemist Frank Sammut, who Malta Today claimed had taken kickbacks from Dutch oil company Trafigura in return for oil contracts from Enemalta in 2004.

However, the probe has now also turned on Trafigura’s Maltese representative George Farrugia and Enemalta’s former chairman Tancred Tabone, who was escorted by police officers to Mater Dei mid-interrogation after he fell ill.

Investigators on Tuesday also interviewed IT Minister Austin Gatt, who at the time of the alleged bribery in 2004 was responsible for the corporation, but the session was mostly an information gathering exercise, sources have told The Times.

Investigators have made considerable progress on a number of fronts but the probe is very complex and there are people the police still need to speak to and a lot of documentation still has to be processed.

The final decision on who is arraigned will have to involve the Attorney General, particularly in this case, where there might be time-bars.

Lawyers who spoke to The Times were not in agreement over whether the police would be prevented from arraigning anyone, given that the main events appear to have taken place in 2004.

However, a number of variables come into play, such as the length of the maximum penalty, aggravating factors such as the accused having been in a public position at the time of the crime, and even when the facts came to the police’s attention.

Lawyer Nadine Sant told The Times the situation with time-barring was not “clear cut” and depended on different interpretations, which are usually battled out in court.

This is not the first time that Mr Sammut has faced similar allegations. In 1993, an anonymous letter that reached the Permanent Commission for the Administration of Justice made almost identical allegations in his respect, alleging that he received payments from a Swiss oil company in return for help to secure contracts at Enemalta.

At the time, Mr Sammut was a member of the oil procurement committee but he was exonerated by the Commission.

Fast forward to 2004 and Mr Sammut (at this time also chairman of the Malta Oil Bunkering Corporation) was appointed consultant to then chairman Tabone, dealing with the reorganisation of oil storage.

The Government said that from 1998 Mr Sammut had not been on the oil procurement committee.

George Farrugia, who at one point represented the oil firms Trafigura and Total, entered the picture after Malta Today published correspondence indicating that he had insider access to the corporation’s management.