The then commissioner of police felt that giving oil trader George Farrugia a presidential pardon was “pivotal” for the oil procurement investigation to succeed, former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.

He was addressing a hearing of the Public Accounts Committee, which is discussing the Auditor General’s damning report on Enemalta’s past fuel procure-­ment practices.

Dr Gonzi told the committee that former commissioner John Rizzo had said granting the pardon would be essential as Mr Farrugia was prepared to cooperate with the police.

“Rizzo came to me and said the pardon would help the police in their investigation because the person concerned would be ready to speak if he were pardoned. He asked me to consider it and I said that, based on his experience, I would,” Dr Gonzi said.

“The pardon came because the police – through John Rizzo who was the only person I kept in contact with – asked for it,” he added.

However, earlier the committee heard from superintendent Paul Vassallo, one of the investigating officers, who said that although a decision on the pardon needed to be taken, it had not resulted in much in the way of essential information.

“The presidential pardon was not a totally mistaken step because somebody had to pop the balloon. But, not much was revealed,” he said, adding that it had exposed some instances of bribery.

In the three-hour grilling that was eventually suspended late last night, Dr Gonzi also strongly denied having known Mr Farrugia or his wife Cathy before the scandal hit the national headlines.

Presidential pardon was not a totally mistaken step

He said he knew of the “Farrugia family” but did not know them personally, adding that he only knew Ms Farrugia as a Mizzi Group employee.

In fact, even when the scandal broke, he had difficulty placing Mr Farrugia after reading news reports, Dr Gonzi added.

Reading out an eight-page statement at the start of the hearing that attracted a modest audience including his brother Michael, the former prime minister also strongly denied having any knowledge of the scandal prior to it being reported by the press.

He shot down allegations that he had been presented with information on the scandal by a member of the security service and said that had he known about such matters, he would have taken all the necessary steps immediately.

The hearing was characterised by lengthy periods of questioning by Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, who asked, among other things, what had come of an Auditor General’s report that had raised concerns of shortcomings in Enemalta’s fuel procurement.

On this and a series of other related questions, Dr Gonzi said it was impossible for a head of State to micromanage all State entities.

The committee then had a debate about the years leading up to the scandal in which Dr Gonzi set the scene, describing how Malta, a new EU member state, was striving to meet Eurozone accession targets.

He explained that these targets had informed his decision to replace former Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone with Alex Tranter.

Dr Gonzi said he had issued a directive for a number of heads of State entities to be changed. This was done because change was healthy and also because he wanted to be sure to meet the stringent Maastricht criteria.