The commission paid by oil trading company Trafigura to Frank Sammut reached 70c per tonne of oil sold to Enemalta, a court was told this afternoon.

The information was given during the compilation of evidence in the case instituted by the police against Mr Sammut, one of the persons who allegedly received illegal commissions on Enemalta oil procurement contracts.

Mr Sammut is the former CEO of MOBC, Enemalta's oil bunkering company, and was also consultant to chairman Tancred Tabone between 2003 and 2005, when the commissions were allegedly received. Mr Tabone is facing similar charges.

Assistant Commissioner Michael Cassar testified that Mr Sammut was paid a fixed amount per metric ton of oil, amounting 75 cents per tonne.

When Malta joined the EU, Enemalta decided to buy better quality oil and a new system was introduced whereby tenders were issued for oil procurement.  The board of directors had approved Mr Sammut, a peto-chemist, as a consultant to Mr Tabone and he was to be paid Lm8,000 a year. His role was to give advice on the running of the petroleum division

Mr Cassar repeated evidence given in the case against Mr Tabone, about how minister Austin Gatt had told Mr Tabone to terminate Mr Sammut's contract as consultant because he had already been given a generous golden handshake when his post at MOBC was abolished.

Mr Tabone had felt uneasy and worried, claiming  that no one could match Mr Sammut's expertise. This showed, Mr Cassar said, that Mr Sammut had an influential role in the oil procurement committee.

Mr Cassar said that the police interrogated Mr Sammut seven times.  He was  very cooperative.

Two laptops were seized from his house for analysis.

In his first statement, Mr Sammut had told the police that  as a director of Fuelserv Ltd he worked in oil bunkering on land and sea. He was also a director in other companies.

Following a stint as a teacher in De La Salle college he was a surveyor with Virtu Steam Ship Ltd.

Following his service with  MOBC he received a golden handshake. The post was terminated  because MOBC was no longer operating in oil and changed its role to storage instead.

At one point he was involved in the production of bio-diesel but that flopped and he stopped. He also offered services to Paul Hili's company in Libya.

He was also a silent shareholder in Island Oils Bunkering Ltd until he was bought out. There were  originally four shareholders in IOBL - the others being Anthony Cassar, and Francis Portelli and Tancred Tabone and himself as silent partners.

Sammut was a silent partner because in its first first six months of operation, IOBL was a direct competitor to MOBC. Sammut and Tabone never declared their interest in the IOBL to the board of directors of MOBC.

Sammut was bought out of MOBL after  a meeting at Tabone's office where Mr  Portelli alleged that he (Sammut) had stolen money from the IOBL. He was  offered cash of $500,000 to leave.

Mr Sammut told the police that Mr Portelli had tried to blackmail him by saying that he had information about the Enemalta oil procurement kickbacks. He believed that Mr Portelli managed to get the invoices from Mr Tabone.

Mr Cassar repeated evidence given against Mr Tabone over how the commissions scheme worked.

Mr Sammut had told the police that he had met a Trafigura representative,  Tim Waters, and they agreed to work together to submit the best offer to Enemalta.

Initially he had received some $80,000, followed later by  a further $159,000. He split the money with Mr Tabone and kept him up to date with everything that went on.

He said that he never told any Trafigura officials about this, despite Mr Tabone signing the contracts. He would pay Tabone in cash and sometimes make transfers.

Mr Sammut said that he used to notify Trafigura before calls for tender was issued. Despite the product not being exactly what Enemalta wanted he said he had assured the oil procurement committee that it was suitable for Enemalta's needs.

AC Cassar said that when asked what had become of his personal computer Mr Sammut opted not to reply.

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