The former chairman of Enemalta, Alex Tranter, yesterday said he had not yet read the Auditor General’s report that identified serious shortcomings in the way the corporation’s fuel procurement committee was run under his watch.
The report was presented in Parliament a week ago. The Auditor General found that the purchase of fuel between 2008 and 2010 bypassed “the most fundamental principles of good practice” and that not all oil purchase contracts went to those with the most favourable bids.
These conclusions have prompted Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi to ask the police to investigate whether Enemalta’s fuel procurement process involved criminal conduct.
Last Wednesday this newspaper sought the reaction of Mr Tranter, who at the time was Enemalta chairman as well as a member of the fuel procurement committee.
He asked for the questions to be sent in writing. Asked for his comments again yesterday, he told Times of Malta he had not yet read the report.
Instead, he referred to a Times story on the audit that carried a photo of him with former Minister Austin Gatt, who was responsible for the corporation between 2003 and February 2010.
“The reference to my chairmanship in that story was out of place,” he said. Asked whether he intended to reply to the newspaper’s questions, he said he still needed to delve into the report.
The former Enemalta chief was asked to name the committee secretary following the Auditor General’s remarks that minutes of meetings “lacked the most rudimentary level of detail” and that some of them were hand-written and hardly legible.
Former chairman hasn’t read report yet
The report also highlighted the fact that there were two instances in which the committee awarded tenders to bidders who did not submit the most favourable offers.
Mr Tranter’s spell at the helm of the corporation lasted from June 2005 till March 2010, a month after the Cabinet reshuffle in which Enemalta was placed under the responsibility of Tonio Fenech within the finance ministry.
Minutes of meetings lacked the most rudimentary level of detail
In his weekly column in The Sunday Times of Malta, Mr Fenech yesterday acknowledged the seriousness of the report findings.
“As a person coming from the auditing profession I would say very serious indeed considering what was at stake and the amount of money the corporation spends on fuel procurement,” he wrote.
Mr Fenech recounted that when he took over the corporation in February 2010, he ordered a complete review of the fuel procurement procedure. He added that even the Auditor General commended the new process, which was introduced in January 2011.
The fact he took this initiative of his own accord was a clear testament to his efforts “to close the doors to any wrongdoing, at a time when no questions were being raised on the integrity of the process”.