George Farrugia, the trader at the centre of the oil procurement scandal, was yesterday accused of lying under oath when he told a court that businessman Tony Debono had threatened to destroy him.

Mr Debono, a former ambassador to Jordan, claimed Mr Farrugia had potentially breached the conditions of the presidential pardon he was granted to reveal all he knew of the case.

In a judicial protest filed by his lawyer, Roberto Montalto, Mr Debono called on Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Justice Parliamentary Secretary Owen Bonnici and Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit to investigate Mr Farrugia and take necessary action.

He also requested that the Public Accounts Committee, which is probing a report by the Auditor General on Enemalta’s fuel procurement, be notified of his court action.

Extortion claim amounts to a personal vendetta

Mr Debono referred to the evidence Mr Farrugia gave on December 5 in the case against former Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone.

Mr Tabone is denying fraud, bribery and money laundering charges in connection with the scandal, which surfaced following a story in newspaper MaltaToday.

Mr Debono, who had also served as chairman of former State telecommunications agency Telemalta, was managing director of Power Plan Ltd, owned by the Farrugia brothers. He was also chairman and consultant of John’s Group, also owned by the Farrugias.

He accused Mr Farrugia of perjury and extortion, as the latter had claimed Mr Debono threatened to destroy his business and family.

He argued that Mr Farrugia chose to lie because of the media attention the case was receiving. Mr Farrugia had even declared that his refusal not to give in to Mr Debono’s alleged extortion was why he got involved in the scandal, the ex-ambassador said.

“I categorically state that any such declaration is malicious and is far from the truth, aimed solely at tarnishing my reputation and amounting to a personal vendetta because it was thanks to my investigation that the directors of John’s Group became aware of Mr Farrugia’s misappropriation of millions of euro to the detriment of the group,” Mr Debono said in his protest.

“The reasons for Mr Farrugia’s malicious defamation are clear, obvious and evident as he knew that every word he was saying would be reported extensively in the local media and would, therefore, inflict maximum damage,” he added.

Mr Debono felt that what Mr Farrugia had done in his regard blighted his local and international reputation and the damages could amount to “hundreds of thousands of euros”.

He said he was holding Mr Farrugia responsible for any damage sustained as a result of his “abusive behaviour”.