Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said this evening that the financial administrator of the Labour Party, Joe Cordina, was one of three directors of a company at the heart of the oil procurement scandal.
Speaking at a press conference this evening, Mr Fenech said that the commissions used to be paid by oil company Trafigura into a New York account of Wachovia Bank addressed to Aikon Ltd.
Aikon Ltd was administered by Intershore Fiduciary Services Ltd of which Joe Cordina was a director along with Charles Scerri and Dr Martin Fenech.
Mr Fenech said that public documents showed that Aikon Ltd was previously also called Mo Ltd and Petrotech Ltd. Intershore was its sole shareholder, director and legal representative.
As a result, Mr Fenech said, while Labour had since January been trying to implicate the PN and the government in the oil procurement scandal, it had now resulted that the financial administrator of the Labour Party was actually involved.
In saying all this, Mr Fenech said, he was not in any way trying to defend George Farrugia, who used Aikon Ltd to screen himself.
But clearly Joseph Muscat now had to explain the activities of his party's financial administrator. Intershore Fiduciary was not a brass plate company but was involved in the administration of Aikon Ltd. It was difficult to argue that Mr Cordina did not know what was going on.
Mr Fenech said the documents have been handed to the Police Commissioner for further investigation.
"I have no doubt that the PL is implicated in this whole issue more than it has been trying to implicate the PN," Mr Fenech said, adding that Mr Cordina was one of those who greeted the 'big businesses' on the fourth floor of Labour headquarters.
When it was pointed out that Dr Martin Fenech was a former PN election candidate, PN General Secretary Paul Borg Olivier said Dr Fenech was no longer a candidate and had he been a candidate, he would have been struck off. He confirmed he was still a member of the PN and had to answer for his actions.
Mr Fenech said that in this whole issue, the person who was closest to a political party was Joe Cordina, who is at the heart of the Labour Party. He was financial administrator of the PL and a director on all of the PL's companies.
Asked if the three directors of Intershore were corrupt and if they had taken bribes, the minister said it would now be up to the police to investigate. They were responsible for Intershore Fiduciary, which was the shareholder of Aikon Ltd, the company which received the commissions as a screen for George Farrugia.
GIFTS
Asked about gifts made in connection with the oil procurement scandal, Mr Fenech said that if such gifts existed, the Police Commissioner should investigate. The PN was not hiding anything.