The former chairman of Enemalta, Alex Tranter, has rejected claims that he personally took decisions on fuel procurement and the hedging of oil and currency risks.
Mr Tranter wrote to the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Jason Azzopardi, to react to comments made to the committee last week by former consultant Joseph Falzon.
Prof Falzon had told the PAC that MrTranter and the Risk Management Committee he chaired should apologise to the Maltese people for the way they had handled oil procurement, dealing in up to $1.5 billion per year in oil supplies, oil price hedging and currency exposure without any quotations whatsoever. (See http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140707/local/former-enemalta-chairman-should-apologise-to-the-people-former-procurement-committee-chairman.526774 )
“As your committee is well aware through the testimony of numerous ex-Enemalta and Enemalta officials at previous PAC meetings, all procurement and hedging decisions were joint unanimous decisions taken by all the members of the Enemalta Fuel Procurement Committee and the Risk Management Committee, not only myself,” Mr Tranter said.
Mr Tranter also denied that it was he who had replaced Prof Falzon as chairman of the Fuel Procurement Advisory Committee with Roderick Chalmers. He said the nomination of the chairman was up to the minister of the time.
Under the chairmanship of Mr Chalmers, the committee had continued the good work started by Prof Falzon with a policy paper submitted to Enemalta’s Board of Directors in March 2006, Mr Tranter said.
As a result, the role of the Risk Management Committee was reactivated and the Fuel Procurement Committee continued to act in an advisory/strategic capacity. The Risk Management Committee continued with its hedging functions and held regular meetings with the Fuel Procurement Advisory Committee in view of its advisory capacity.
The tenure of the Fuel Procurement Advisory Committee came to a natural end in March 2008 on a recommendation by Mr Chalmers to minister Austin Gatt.