Former finance minister Tonio Fenech, who was responsible for Enemalta, confirmed yesterday he was not present at the Cabinet meeting when oil trader George Farrugia was given a presidential pardon in early 2013.

Mr Fenech told the House Public Accounts Committee he could not attend because the PN had directed him to appear on the TV programme Xarabank held at the same time.

The PAC is discussing the Auditor General’s report on fuel procurement by Enemalta.

Mr Fenech, who was replying to questions by Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis, said he would have wished to have attended the Cabinet meeting and he would not have objected to the presidential pardon.

When then prime minister Lawrence Gonzi briefed him on the issue, he found it sensible to agree to the presidential pardon considering that the request had come from the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police. Earlier, Mr Fenech insisted he did not breach the code of ethics for ministers when he accepted an artisan Maltese clock from Mr Farrugia’s sister-in-law because it had been given to him when he was still parliamentary secretary and the energy and transport portfolios did not form part of his remit.

When Lawrence Gonzi briefed him, he found it sensible to agree to the pardon since the request came from the Attorney General and Police Commissioner

He said he did not declare the gift because the code of ethics implied that such declarations had to be made if gifts were in any way linked to the possibility of influencing him in his ministerial decisions. Mr Fenech said the gift had been donated to him years before he assumed responsibility for Enemalta.

He said he would have never accepted the gift if he knew it would be paid for by the Farrugia brothers company, Power Plan.

Mr Fenech was also asked about the employment of managerial staff at Enemalta and the setting up of an internal audit unit there.

He said the finance ministry had halved the number of new employees requested by Enemalta former CEO David Spiteri Gingell and some of them could have been engaged as internal auditors.

Dr Zammit Lewis remarked that although the 2004 Price Waterhouse Coopers report on Enemalta had noted there were only five qualified accountants, the PN government had left Enemalta without adequate structures, no strategy, no EU regulatory unit and no quality assurance unit even though Enemalta handled $1 billion in business.

Mr Fenech said that as minister he had taken steps to strengthen the financial structures within the government, including Enemalta.