Enemalta’s fuel buying committee stopped taking proper minutes at the same time that corruption in oil tenders was alleged, according to Parliamentary Secretary Owen Bonnici.
During yesterday’s meeting of the Public Accounts Committee he said that before 2003 the fuel procurement committee had proper minutes, which included a summary of proceedings and members present.
Dr Bonnici said the poor minute-taking recorded by the National Audit Office coincidentally started in December 2003, when according to court proceedings, an oil tender was awarded to a company that had not even made a bid.
He was referring to a corruption court case instituted earlier this year against several former Enemalta officials, including ex-chairman Tancred Tabone, ex-chief financial officer Tarcisio Mifsud and oil consultant Frank Sammut.
Between 2003 and the start of 2010 Enemalta fell within the ministerial responsibility of Dr Gatt before being transferred to another minister, Tonio Fenech.
The NAO audit covered the period between 2008 and 2011 and officials insisted they did not check how minutes were taken beyond that period. “It was outside the audit’s purpose,” Auditor General Anthony Mifsud said.
In its report, the NAO said it found unacceptable minutes that included illegible writing, improper record keeping and doodles, especially in 2008 and 2009, that made it difficult to understand how the committee functioned. The situation started to change after 2010.
The protagonists
PAC members
PN – Jason Azzopardi (chairman), Beppe Fenech Adami, Kristy Debono
PL – Owen Bonnici, Chris Agius, Justyne Caruana, Luciano Busuttil
NAO office
Auditor General Anthony Mifsud, Deputy Auditor General Charles Deguara and manager Keith Mercieca
The subject
The Public Accounts Committee is probing the findings of a performance audit carried out by the Auditor General into Enemalta’s fuel procurement and hedging strategies between 2008 and 2011.
The 300-page report was released last month, uncovering serious administrative shortcomings, including poor minute-taking, lack of documentation to back up decisions related to purchases worth hundreds of millions of euros and ministerial interference in the company’s hedging strategy.