Former police commissioner John Rizzo told the House Public Accounts Committee yesterday he did not have the chance to give a proper handover to the commissioner who replaced him, Peter Paul Zammit, when he relinquished his post in May last year.

Mr Rizzo was replying to questions put to him by Opposition deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami on whether he had given a handover to Mr Zammit about the oil scandal case.

He said the situation was not ideal as he had met Mr Zammit when he went to pick up his personal belongings from the office.

He only had time to inform Mr Zammit about certain priorities that he felt Mr Zammit should know about and of which he had the necessary files in his office.

Only person from the original investigating team still in the police force was Superintendent Paul Vassallo

The file about the oil scandal was not in his office as he was not leading the investigation.

Mr Rizzo said that since then, the only person from the original investigating team still in the police force was Superintendent Paul Vassallo.

Asked about the relevance of such a question by Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis, Dr Fenech Adami replied that it was relevant because to date four other members of the Farrugia family had still not been arraigned in court despite declarations by George Farrugia that they knew about the bribes, commissions and gifts that he had been giving.

He added that these people were the clients of Manuel Mallia as their professional lawyer, who was now Minister for Home Affairs responsible for the police.

To date these people had not been arraigned.

In reply to questions by Dr Zammit Lewis, Mr Rizzo said that when he left the police, investigations into the Farrugia family members were still active because he had the intention of proceeding against them. He said that recently in court, Police Inspector Ferris, as prosecutor, had given the impression that investigations were still ongoing.

Labour MP Luciano Busuttil remarked that Mr Rizzo’s subordinates – with the exception of Assistant Commissioner Michael Cassar – could still give a handover to the new commissioner.

Earlier, Mr Rizzo recounted the events which led to the presidential pardon being granted to George Farrugia.

The police believed it would be beneficial because Mr Farrugia had a lot to tell the police but until then had been uncooperative.

He said he was not always present during investigations because of other pressing commitments as Commissioner of Police.

He had informed Edgar Galea Curmi, from the Office of the Prime Minister, that Mr Farrugia was interested in the presidential pardon after the government had given notice it was considering granting it.

He had also told former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi that his investigating officers had informed him that as a result of the pardon, Mr Farrugia could help in the investigations.

He had also given an update to Dr Gonzi to the effect that at the time, the police did not have a case against Mr Farrugia.

Mr Rizzo said this was the first and only presidential pardon which he had ever drafted, with the assistance of the Attorney General Peter Grech.

Many amendments were made to the first draft to make conditions tighter for Mr Farrugia so he would tell the truth.

The investigators never suspected him of breaking a condition linked to the pardon.

He was instrumental in helping the police arraign a number of people before the courts.

Farrugia spoke of bribes, commissions, corruption and gifts being given to various people between 2000 and 2006.

Mr Rizzo said he was not always involved in interviewing former transport minister Austin Gatt and in interrogating former finance minister Tonio Fenech because of other pressing work that he had to deal with.

There was no need for the Commissioner of Police to be fully involved in investigating all cases.

Asked by Luciano Busuttil (PL), about documentation submitted by Mr Farrugia, Mr Rizzo said an IT audit had been carried out at Mr Farrugia’s company offices, with Farrugia alleging that certain documents had been removed from his computer.

Farrugia had a list the gifts and commissions given, together with their value and who they were given to. One of the bribes involved a big sum of money running into hundreds of thousands of liri.

The Public Accounts Committee is to continue hearing evidence next week when Michael Cassar and Superintendent Vassallo are to give evidence.