Finance Minister Tonio Fenech yesterday said he would sue Labour on allegations that he received a €5,000 gift from businessman George Farrugia, who is at the centre of the oil corruption scandal.

Labour spokesman Evarist Bartolo made the claim during a press conference immediately after Mr Fenech said the only political connection to the saga was through Labour’s financial administrator, Joe Cordina (see also page five).

“Labour has spent the past weeks trying to implicate a Nationalist minister in this scandal but now it is clear that the only person involved in the case with a direct relationship to a political party is Mr Cordina,” Mr Fenech said, adding that he would pass on all the information he had to the police.

He explained that Mr Cordina was one of three directors of Intershore Fiduciary Services Ltd, which, at the time of the alleged corruption, was the sole director responsible for Aikon Ltd, the company owned by Mr Farrugia who allegedly paid bribes to secure oil deals with Enemalta.

Mr Fenech stressed that this did not exonerate Mr Farrugia but it showed that the legal responsibility of the scandal lay also with Mr Cordina and his company, which was used as the rogue oil trader’s front through which he could receive commissions from oil firms.

“It is difficult to believe that the person shouldering responsibility did not know what was going on,” said Mr Fenech.

Mr Cordina, who is also a Labour candidate on the Gozo district, yesterday denied any wrongdoing but suspended himself from his Labour Party post and moved to withdraw his election candidature.

“This does not mean he has any fault but in politics there are responsibilities to be shouldered.

“We act differently from the Nationalist Party,” said Mr Bartolo, adding that Mr Cordina was never questioned by the police on the case.

“This election is too important for Malta’s future for me to let the Nationalist Party use me to try and deviate attention and cast Labour in a bad light.

“I will defend myself with all my might against this unfounded allegation,” said Mr Cordina in a statement issued after Labour’s press conference.

The other directors of the fiduciary company were Charles Scerri and Martin Fenech, a former PN candidate who had contested the parliamentary seat vacated by former PN deputy leader Tonio Borg last December.

Mr Scerri and Dr Fenech also strongly denied the PN’s claims and that any money related to the sale of oil ever went through the accounts of their company.

In a joint statement, they said they offered Aikon fiduciary services under a licence by the Malta Financial Services Authority as they did with several companies, for an annual retainer fee of €700. Referring to official audited accounts, they said the declared income of Aikon for the period 2003-2008 amounted to only about €333,000.

Therefore, there was no reason to suspect Mr Farrugia or his commercial activity. In addition, their company was never probed by the Inland Revenue Department, the MFSA or any other governmental organisation.

They insisted they severed all ties with Mr Farrugia in 2010 when they first found out about allegations that he was siphoning money from his brothers’ company.

PN general secretary Paul Borg Olivier confirmed that Dr Fenech was still a PN member but said he would have to answer for his actions.

Dr Borg Olivier stressed that the PN did not make any distinctions when it came to wrongdoing and, had Dr Fenech been an election candidate, he would have been struck off the list.

Labelling the PN’s story a “diversion tactic”, Mr Bartolo said the Enemalta scandal would soon start to widen and implicate people at the highest echelons of the Nationalist Government.

Alleging that Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi knew about the oil scandal from before the 2008 election, Mr Bartolo added that Mr Fenech had received a gift costing more than €5,000 directly from Mr Farrugia soon after the Finance Minister was made responsible for Enemalta.

Mr Bartolo challenged Mr Fenech to deny the allegation and file an urgent libel suit so that all the evidence could be brought to court before the March 9 election.

Mr Fenech quickly obliged and promised to take legal steps against Mr Bartolo and his colleague, Chris Cardona, who repeated the allegations at the same press conference.

In a press statement, Mr Fenech categorically denied that he received any gift from Mr Farrugia.

Mr Fenech had already denied ever meeting Mr Farrugia, who has been granted a presidential pardon to spill the beans on the oil corruption scandal.

Speaking to The Times, Mr Fenech said he would be speaking to his lawyers today.

He questioned how Mr Bartolo seemed to be privy to a statement given to the police by Mr Farrugia.

Saying he had nothing to hide, Mr Fenech added that he had no problem being investigated by the police.