Two businessmen charged in oil procurement scandal, granted bail
Mr Cassar, left, and Mr Portelli.
Tony Cassar, chairman of Cassar Ship Repair and Francis Portelli, of Virtu Ferries, have been accused of corruption and money laundering in the Enemalta oil procurement scandal. Prosecuting Inspector Angelo Gafa' said, however, that this case has nothing to do with commissions.
The two were arraigned together, two days after similar charges were filed against former Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone and his then consultant Frank Tabone.
The charges stem from their involvement in the oil storage company Island Bunker Oils, and several other maritime and bunkering interests which they co-own with former Enemalta Chairman Tancred Tabone.
Inspector Gafa' said that a distinction had to be made between last Tuesday's arraignment and today's. Mr Tabone and Mr Sammut had been public officials and their case was more serious, he said.
The charges say that Mr Cassar and Mr Portelli bribed Mr Tabone and Mr Sammut.
Prior to deciding on bail, the court was told that both Mr Cassar and Mr Portelli had cooperated with the police.
Mr Cassar and Mr Portelli were granted bail against a personal deposit of €20,000 and a personal guarantee of a further €20,000 and placed under curfew. Their assets have been frozen.
Last Tuesday, Mr Tabone and Mr Sammut were granted bail against a deposit of €3,000 and a personal guarantee of €15,000. However, the Attorney General filed an appeal yesterday, asking for the bail to be revoked. The hearing will be held on Monday.
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45 Comments
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David Triganza
Feb 21st, 20:06
The more Dr Gonzi tries to explain the more questions come to mind. Anyway, we do not seem to get much clear answers. How about us knowing the whole truth before the election!
Victor Vella
Feb 21st, 19:42
The fruits of 25 years of PN administration. Ufdawhom!
Keith Camilleri
Feb 21st, 18:44
The man in the rabat fight must feel cheated that he did not manage to make bail, when these business men who might have cheated their own neighbours, friends and country men were released on pocket money (by their standard of living of course).
Of course until proven guilty
Ronnie Callus
Feb 21st, 18:37
Dan kollu jsir ! ghax min supposat jiehu hsieb ma' jghamilx xogholu sew. Kieku kien hemm, ma kienx jigri dan u kella tkun il-Malta today biex tizvella kollox.Lil Gvern kienet ila tingibidlu l-attenzjoni rigward il-prezzijiet tal-fuel, Imma flok jiccekkja dejjem qad jghidilna ! ghax iz-zejt qed jghola minn barra. Lehfef haga li setgha jghamel halli min ikun jabbuza jkompli.
susan matrenza
Feb 21st, 18:05
I cannot understand why Dr.Gonzi first glorified Tancred Tabone for his job well done at Enemalta and then he did not renew his contract. So can Dr.Gonzi explain what were the reasons for this strange decision? Could it be that he already had any hints that something was very wrong on Enemalta at that time?
M. Cachia
Feb 21st, 17:48
To all bloggers & commentors.............
Please let justice take its course.
Do not pretend to be the Judge in Jury!
john mifsud
Feb 21st, 17:33
veru li ahna pajjiz tribali! Meta taqra il kummenti ta xi whud b'opinjoni lejburista, tinduna b'din. Tressqu in nies il qorti, u li kien ghalihom , millewwel jibghatuhom ghal forka !!
GL Calleja
Feb 21st, 17:26
Out of curiosity, and this very important. Are the four newly accused being offered the same Presidential Pardon like Dr Lawrence Gonzi very conveniently offered Mr Farrugia? Is he giving any of these people the chance to turn State Witnesses? Is there some kind of cover up going on? Maybe they should have hired Franco Debono to represent them? Just a thought.
M Borg
Feb 21st, 18:15
I really cannot understand you. You have been going on and on about the police not doing their work, now you seem to be against the Presidential Pardon that was granted to G. Farrugia.
Do make up your mind. Do you really want this case to be solved or are you having second thoughts about it ?
What do you mean when you write " very conveniently offered " ?
Keith Camilleri
Feb 21st, 19:13
Dr Gonzi made it very clear that Mr. Farrugia is going to be the only state witness and only because Mr. Farrugia literally gave the government an offer they they couldn't refuse. A short cut to finding what exactly was going on . If mr. Farrugia is caught lieing on stand his sentence will be way harsher then if he was prosecuted like these two business men.
Joseph Grech Attard
Feb 21st, 17:26
We have started the dominoe effect. Soon it shall go on and on until, finally, no concrete results are found, as happened with the case of the attemped murder on RCC and Zeppi l-Hafi, Querioz, etc. The big fish is never caught because it is too astute. Maybe foreign investigators are needed to catch it. In the meantime, we remain in the hands of the politicians for justice (in this case GonziPN).
anthony sultana
Feb 21st, 16:42
The cost of living is very expensive because this kind of people.Wait and see after the 9 th March 2013 when the PL is in power we will see all kind of prices going dawn,and if we have a voice in parlament from the AD we see even more prices going dawn,that means more money in our pockets to spend on our holidays abroad.As myself an axe businees man ,I am speaking from my expearance.
M Sciberras
Feb 21st, 17:53
Of course you are. I was hoping that your comment would be irony but sadly I do believe you are expressing what you genuinely believe....
J. Pace
Feb 21st, 22:44
@Anthony Sultana - do you really believe what you just said? Really? Prices going down? Are you so sure? Is this what One and PL are saying?
How naive can you be my friend...We will speak in a year time and we will measure the inflation and compare it to this year. We will then see by how much prices went dawn - as you wrote it!
James Grech
Feb 21st, 15:48
PN MPs are happily roaming around cutting ribbons for some project or other, but no one wants to take responsibility for such a mess with public funds. This says a lot about this government, which boasts about everything & spends money in the process. Yet when it comes to shouldering responsibility, no one is accountable. Not even the PM, who is the 1st to defend particular MPs, tooth & nail.
A Calleja
Feb 21st, 17:10
James, it seems that you are an employee which means that you do not employ anyone. Very easy to blame the Govt. The Govt in good faith employeed Tancred but unfortunately he did not deliver, but instead stole what belongs to the people !
James Grech
Feb 21st, 18:07
And you're obviously trying to excuse government & the minister. What about the ppl's money? Who was responsible of managing that? So, what you're saying that if our country is eligible to €600million from the EU, then no one is actually responsible to see that it is wisely spent? and that if someone screws up then its not the government's fault? Tell this to the EU & see the reply you get!!!
Joseph Portelli
Feb 21st, 15:43
anke f'familja zghira ssib xi hadd li jamel xi wahda minn tieghu bla ma tkun taf - zgur li aw genituri li addew minn xi esperjenza u din iggib hafna niket ax ma tkunx tistennieha! ahseb u ara. id-differenza qeda fil-fatt li l-PM ta l-aqwa ghodda biex jinkixef dan it-tahwid kollu meta ta l-proklama - haddiehor quddiem kazijiet kriminali heba kollox!
James Grech
Feb 21st, 15:49
Mhux l aqwa ghodda ridt tghid, imma l unika ghodda. Ghax il ligijiet l ohra jew ghadhom fuq l ixkaffa jew ghadhom lanqas biss gew ipprezentati.
Ganni Borg
Feb 21st, 16:05
Tajjeb qieghed tghid l-aqwa ghodda. Din hija aqwa mill-whistle blower li qieghed jghid sehibna is Sur Grech.
James Grech
Feb 21st, 16:09
Kemm hawn min jifhem qed nghid!! Jew forsi qed tfissru li sakemm hemm il-mahfra presidenzjali ma hemmx ghalfejn tal-ligijiet l ohra?
Mr Andrew Camilleri
Feb 21st, 15:39
Wasn't it GOnzi who in 2008 had promised that in future all nominees for givernment boards etc will be chosen after a call for applications? This never happened and now one starts to ask why not. What was the primary interest of the PN to ignore its own important promise?
C Sant
Feb 22nd, 09:23
All of this has happened in 2005, and these are owners of private business and not Government appointees.
Ronnie Callus
Feb 21st, 15:39
A lot has to emerge from this investigation and hundreds of emails.Thanks goes to Malta Today for putting the emails to the public who has no voice.Now all citizens should air together in one voice ' WE WANT JUSTICE' and COMPENSATION for all this bribery through the Energy Tariffs imposed on us by Dr.GONZI and his MP's.
twanny borg
Feb 21st, 15:37
Kull min huwa imdahhal f'xi haga ghandu jahsibha jekk ma jridx jispicca hekk. Ahjar ma jkollok xejn u torqod b'rasek mistrieha. Darba nghixu u zbal jeqred il-paci tal-familja kollha. Ghandna nkunu kuntenti billi ghandna.
GL Calleja
Feb 21st, 17:04
Kieku kuntenti billi ghandna qatt ma jsir xejn.
Ronnie Callus
Feb 21st, 18:30
@ GL.Calleja:
Mhux ma jsir xejn twanny, importanti li jsir isir bl-Onesta - dak li ma' tridtx lilek tghamlux lil Haddiehor. Ix-xitan borom jghamel IMMA ghotjin LE.
Doreen Attard
Feb 21st, 15:34
So the PM is saying that he will not comment further on the biggest corruption case ever to hit Malta. It could be understood that he refrains from commenting on the case itself but how about the political responsabilites ? It's his job to sack whoever is respondable politically. It's no use hiding behind the fact that the case is pending in court, this has nothing to do with the court.
twanny borg
Feb 21st, 15:32
L-importanti li gew ifrizati l-assi taghhom u li l-kaz jigi deciz mhux fit-tul tajjeb ghal kullhadd.
James Grech
Feb 21st, 15:30
It is mind-boggling how political responsibility is being totally sidelined and tonnes of excuses are being made to move away from this argument. This is a very serious case whereby possibly millions and more, from ppl's money were siphoned into particular pockets. What assurances can the ppl have that these things will not happen again, or are happening in some other sector?
James Grech
Feb 21st, 15:14
The plot is slowly but surely coming to light, however many questions still beg an answer. Are these 4 ppl the only ones involved? Who were the politicians that were handed gifts? What kind of gifts? It is still not clear what the involvement of A.G. was? Was it Tabone himself that didn't want his contract to be renovated? What did the PM know already about this case back in 2005?
M Borg
Feb 21st, 16:12
Asking questions here will not help. We just have to wait for the police to do their work.
Only then will we know the answers.The police know what they are doing.
GL Calleja
Feb 21st, 17:09
" The police know what they are doing". Since when? When did all this change. We still have murders to be solved in particular the Karen Grech murder and the New Years double murder. Don't forget the robberies that are yet without any convicted suspects?
M Borg
Feb 21st, 17:18
@GL Calleja
I believe in the work that the police is and have been doing, so I will wait for them to finish their work.
In the meantime if you think that you have or know of other clues that the police should know, just hand them in. They will finish their work quicker that way .
C Sant
Feb 22nd, 09:27
And now we have the Financial Controller (Treasurer) of the PL, in business with an ex-PN candidate, inbroiled in all of this.
This is the reason why such acts can never be pointed at a political party or other (at least if the politcal party does not endorse them) as these are usually the acts of greedy persons with contacts in all spheres.
Geoffrey Farrugia
Feb 21st, 15:13
The case of tabone and sammut is more serious as they were public officers but to be granted bail they deposited much less than Cassar and portelli!!! Moreover casar and portelli were placed under curfew whilst tabone and sammut were not.
I am very curious to understand the logic behind this.
david debattista
Feb 21st, 15:11
When will someone take up the responsibility to rid our two islands and its people from the plague of corruption and abuse . WE ARE IN A MESS !
A M Bonello
Feb 21st, 15:09
One hopes that justice will prevail and any criminals will end up in prison and not Mount Carmel.
Charles Mangion
Feb 21st, 14:59
Its nice to see what money can do All 4 buisness men out on bail
joe vella
Feb 21st, 14:48
does all this make sense?
sammut and tabone, more serious according to insp gafa so they get 3000 + 15000 for bail/guarantee
portelli and cassar, less serious, but they get 20K + 20 K
Ahna, ahna jew m'ahniex, veru tal mickey ! jew tal- biki?
Ronnie Callus
Feb 21st, 14:36
Of course the appeal should be revoked. How come that a more serious crime be taken so lightly also on comparing the bail values. Is this Accountable by the Law Courts ?????
j brincat
Feb 21st, 14:25
"Cassar and Mr Portelli ...against a personal deposit of €20,000 and a personal guarantee of a further €20,000 .."
AND
".Last Tuesday, Mr Tabone and Mr Sammut... against a deposit of €3,000 and a personal guarantee of €15,000"
SO this beg the question: Which is the most serious case of them all?
AND this sad sage goes on and on!
Only it's not a soap opera BUT real life!
jb
marc pace
Feb 21st, 14:11
and those charged with taking bribes get off with 3,000 euro.....
Anth. Xuereb
Feb 21st, 14:08
STILL TIPS
Joseph Borg
Feb 21st, 14:04
If this case has nothing to do with commissions, then what's the link?
Please choose the reason of your report below: