Joseph Muscat refused to pass judgment yesterday on the conditions attached to the presidential pardon given to an oil trader who allegedly received illegal commissions on the sale of oil to Enemalta.
Interviewed under the tent at Kirkop last night by TV presenters Simone Cini and Robert Musumeci, the Labour leader said he would remain “prudent” when speaking about the oil scandal.
He said the Prime Minister must have had information unavailable to the public to recommend the presidential pardon for George Farrugia, one of the men at the centre of controversy.
“The fact that a Presidential Pardon has been given means that someone has admitted wrongdoing and so it is no longer an allegation,” Dr Muscat said.
However, he reiterated that on a political level the Prime Minister and Transport Minister Austin Gatt had a lot of explaining to do about the correspondence revealed by The Sunday Times.
The correspondence, an exchange of e-mails between oil traders, includes reference to somebody with the initials “AG” and “Aust”.
In one e-mail to then Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone, an oil trader asked how the meeting with the minister went.
Dr Muscat said he will not speculate who “AG” may be but the reference to “Aust” required a clear explanation from Dr Gatt.
“The correspondence published in The Sunday Times makes you cringe,” he insisted.
At the time the correspondence took place Dr Gatt was politically responsible for Enemalta. The minister has denied any wrongdoing or ever discussing Enemalta oil tenders with anyone. He has urged anyone with information to go immediately to the police.
Dr Muscat said the only gauge of how important the pardon was to the criminal case being pursued by the police was the strength of the evidence the pardoned individual would give in court to help in the prosecution of other people.
He said a Whistleblower Act would have avoided all this because politicians, who may have an interest in the case that comes before them, would have no say in who got a pardon.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com