Former minister Austin Gatt insisted before the Public Accounts Committee this evening that he never discussed oil procurement tenders with oil trader George Farrugia or anybody else, and the members of his secretariat were similarly ordered not to discuss such issues.

Dr Gatt appeared before the committee to give evidence in connection with its analysis of oil procurement procedures between 2008 and 2010, a time when he was the minister responsible for the corporation.

The Auditor-General had found serious shortcomings in the procedures used, including poor record keeping. However, the focus of the committee's deliberations has turned to corruption in oil procurement by senior Enemalta officials.

In a declaration, Dr Gatt pointed out that he had never been questioned by the Auditor General. 

Replying to a question by Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, that Mr Farrugia had said that his family gave a donation to his electoral campaign, Dr Gatt said he did not remember but he had no reason to doubt the claim.

He knew that the family gave several donations to electoral campaigns which was, after all how these were funded.

Asked to name who was in charge, in his campaign, to see where donations came from, Dr Gatt said he would shoulder responsibility himself but was not willing to name people who were helping him voluntarily.

Dr Bonnici said he only wanted to ask this person if when the donation was made he knew that this was coming from George Farrugia and whether he knew he worked in the oil business.

Dr Gatt said that when the donation was made it was evident that this was coming from the Farrugia brothers, who included George, and who had a number of businesses including  cars and oil.

Asked by Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis at which point he learnt that the Farrugia family gave him a €2,000 donation, he said it was when Mr Farrugia said this in court or to the PAC.

Dr Bonnici asked whether this meant that any Tom, Dick and Harry could donate to Austin Gatt without control, Dr Gatt answered in the affirmative.

He said he had always preferred not to know about donations so as not to be influenced by them.

Asked by Dr Zammit Lewis whether former Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone was a relative, Dr Gatt said their mothers were cousins.

He said he had nominated Mr Tabone for the post but he was appointed by Cabinet. He had nominated him not because he was his cousin but because he was then one of the most successful businessmen, he was president of the GRTU, of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Water Services Corporation, among others. He had all the necessary qualifications to be nominated Enemalta chairman, he said.

Asked whether he was present for the cabinet meeting when the pardon was given to George Farrugia, he said he was and had agreed with it as a member of the cabinet. It was given because the police had made the argument that without it they would not have been able to proceed against others.

“I have no regrets,” Dr Gatt said.

He believed the aims of the pardon had been reached because even Mr Farrugia had admitted he would not have said what he did had this not been given.

Noting that the only person arraigned on the basis of this pardon was acquitted, Dr Gatt said he was not competent to judge these matters which, as a retiree, he no longer followed.

Asked about his statement to the police and why had they felt the need to question him rather than others, Dr Gatt said the police questions had been mainly on Tancred Tabone and Frank Sammut.

He said he had wanted to publish a statement immediately but the police had asked him not to.  

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.