MP Claudio Grech (PN) declared yesterday that he made acquaintance with George Farrugia only in 2012 and never discussed oil procurement with him.
Mr Farrugia is a central figure in the oil procurement scandal that erupted in February 2013 and was later given a presidential pardon to tell all he knew.
Replying to questions by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Mr Grech said that after the scandal became public, members of Mr Farrugia’s family had asked to meet him.
They requested that the family company, John’s Garage, not be implicated in the matter and said that the role of Manuel Mallia and David Farrugia Sacco, at the time Labour candidates, was solely that of legal advisors.
The PAC was hearing Mr Grech’s evidence during its analysis of the Auditor General’s report on the effectiveness of Enemalta’s fuel procurement procedures during the 2008-2013 legislature. At this stage the committee is hearing the witnesses submitted by the government.
In a statement to the committee, Mr Grech said that during the time-frame covered by the Auditor General’s report, he was not a ministry official but was serving as chief executive officer at Smart City Malta. However, he felt that his contribution to the PAC might help to develop a more robust policy framework in public administration.
Between 2003 and 2008 he had served as head of secretariat of the Minister for Industry and IT. At the early stages of this engagement, a working plan aimed at strengthening the structures, targets and quality assurance was drawn up for the dozens of entities within the ministry. This was followed through to execution.
While the day-to-day execution of the working plan was the entities’ responsibility, the ministry insisted that the guidelines had to be observed. The guidelines instructed all entities, including Enemalta, on the expected ethical and practical accountability expected from them, including the setting up of an Audit Committee.
Mr Grech said that the situation at Enemalta was the most complex of all, with management structure, operational, technical and financial problems hampered by the exponential rise in the oil price, where a 400 per cent increase was registered.
The later developments in oil procurement confirmed that, however robust the structures might be, the human element was still critical in getting the right results.
Such structures must be complemented by the strengthening of other institutions such as the National Audit Office, he added.