Auditor General Anthony Mifsud said his office’s oil procurement audit was not meant to have been an investigation so there was no need to question the former minister in charge of Enemalta, Austin Gatt.

He was the first to give evidence yesterday at the start of a parliamentary probe into a damning report by the National Audit Office about how Enemalta bought oil between 2008 and 2010. The questioning lasted six-and-a-half hours and will resume tomorrow.

Asked by Parliamentary Secretary Owen Bonnici whether he could say that in this case, just like the BWSC power station investigation three years ago, there was “smoke without fire” (an implication that corruption may have been present) Mr Mifsud said he could not.

“We were not trying to find the fire because it was not an investigation but an audit that established facts, which we then reported to Parliament. It is now up to the PAC to determine what it wants to do with the findings,” Mr Mifsud said.

He repeatedly insisted the exercise was an audit into the workings of Enemalta’s fuel procurement committee that sought to establish whether good administrative practices were adopted, and not an inquiry of people.

He said the audit did not require his office to question Dr Gatt and former Enemalta chairman Alex Tranter, when asked whether it was unfair on them not to have been given the chance to give their version.

Nationalist Party deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami insisted the NAO official should have had “the decency” to ask Dr Gatt and Mr Tranter for their side of things.