Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday said that he was expecting the Leader of the Opposition to clarify what happened in the procedures of fuel procurement by Enemalta.

He said the Auditor’s report clearly showed that the process had not been taken seriously.

Now that the former minister responsible for Enemalta (Austin Gatt) had retired from politics, Dr Muscat said, it was the duty of the PN to shoulder the responsibility for the mismanagement revealed by the Auditor General.

“It seems that the procurement of millions worth of oil supplies was taken lightly in meetings that resembled more an informal discussion among friends having a coffee.”

The PN must also say whether Dr Gatt’s successor Tonio Fenech was aware of what was going on and took action to remedy the situation, he added.

Dr Muscat said that the auditor’s report showed how the process of oil procurement in the previous administration was not regulated and lacked the basic requirement of keeping up-to-date records.

When contacted, former finance minister Tonio Fenech, who took over Enemalta in 2010, admitted he had not been aware that the oil procurement committee was in such a disastrous state that minutes were not taken properly.

“I became aware after I instructed the chairman to undertake a review of how the company bought oil, which I knew was a very sensitive issue for Enemalta and the economy,” Mr Fenech said.

Reluctant to comment on his predecessor, he added that any minister would have assumed that boards had basic knowledge of how minutes are taken.

“It wouldn’t be something the minister is aware of unless he asks.”

He noted the Auditor General commented positively on the changes he enacted when taking over, which ensured that oil buying was done in a more transparent way.

“It shows the Government at the time was not laissez-faire as was implied when the oil scandal cropped up during the election campaign,” he said.

In a statement the Nationalist Party said the Auditor General’s report clearly showed that the shortcomings that took place between 2008 and 2010 had been “substantially remedied” by the corporation in the beginning of 2011.

After the irregularities in oil procurement were unveiled, the Nationalist government fully collaborated to ensure that whoever was involved was charged in court – this included the granting of the Presidential pardon.

The Government had also revised policies and procedures to ensure more transparency. The report points out that these changes made a big difference, the PN said.