Pardoned oil dealer George Farrugia provided regular donations to former Transport Minister Austin Gatt during the 2008 electoral campaign, a newspaper editor told a court this afternoon.

MaltaToday editor Saviour Balzan told Magistrate Francesco Depasquale that according to information he had and research he had conducted, Mr Farrugia and his brother Ray had offered the use of the Valentine Hall in Hamrun free of charge for some two or three months to be used during the campaign.

Apart from this, there were also monetary contributions.

He said that it was well known that the Farrugia family had previously been political supporters of the de Marco family, but had switched allegiance to Dr Gatt after 2004.

These assertions led Dr Gatt's lawyer, Joe Zammit Maemple, to vociferously object, saying these assertions were based on hearsay evidence which was not admissible in a court of law.

Mr Balzan was testifying during libel proceedings filed against him by Dr Gatt over an article that appeared on the newspaper in January 2013 which alleged that meetings were held between Mr Farrugia and Dr Gatt. At the time, Mr Farrugia was being investigated by the police over the receipt of kickbacks for the procurement of fuel to Enemalta.

A few days after the article appeared, Mr Farrugia was granted a presidential pardon to say all he known on the scandal.

Dr Gatt had denied ever discussing fuel procurement with Mr Farrugia and Mr Balzan in court insisted that he never said or implied that Dr Gatt had even received any kickbacks over the procurement of fuel by Enemalta.

During his testimony, Mr Balzan referred to a bunch of emails which were presented in court during the civil case the Farrugia brothers opened against Mr Farrugia, in which Mr Farrugia frequently referred to meeting he had held with the minister responsible for Enemalta, referring to him in some as "Aust" or "AG".

Mr Balzan also pointed out the possibility that Mr Farrugia could have been exaggerating his close ties to the minister in his conversations with oil procurement companies such as Totsa and Total.

However, he said he wanted to correct the impression that was being given that Dr Gatt knew Mr Farrugia simply as a constituent, adding that he was informed that Mr Farrugia had "gone out of his way" to help Dr Gatt.

Mr Farrugia had publicly stated that he had made a one-time €2,000 donation to Dr Gatt’s campaign in 2008 but Mr Balzan claimed that he was informed that regular donations were made.

“In no way am I saying that Mr Farrugia asked for or was given something in return, but this is what had happened,” Mr Balzan said, adding that Mr Farrugia and his brother had also provided Dr Gatt with a BMW for some seven weeks during the 2008 campaign.

When lawyer Dr Zammit Maempel asked whether all these claims could be confirmed, Mr Balzan replied that there were "third persons" who could confirm it. To this Dr Zammit Maemple replied that it could not be confirmed as it was all untrue.

The case continues on 18 May, when Mr Balzan is expected to be cross-examined by Dr Zammit Maempel.