Pardoned oil trader George Farrugia received three threatening phone calls two days before Christmas and has refer-red the matter to the police for investigation.
He told the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee yesterday that his teenage children answered the calls in which the caller, using foul language and claiming to be a police officer, told his daughter that he wanted to “ruin” her mother.
He was replying to questions by Labour MP Justyne Caruana on whether he had been or felt threatened since the oil procurement scandal surfaced in January last year.
There had been no other incident but he was afraid that something would happen to the people most dear to him. “I trust in God,” he said.
Mr Farrugia appeared before the PAC for the fourth time yesterday and concluded his testimony after several hours of grilling.
At the beginning of yesterday’s sitting, Keith Mercieca from the National Audit Office presented rough calculations of how much Mr Farrugia had paid in bribes. The total figure, based on a number of assumed payments, amounted to $905,000.
However, Mr Farrugia said he had paid €345,000 in bribes over fuel oil consignments between 2004 and 2006 and around €93,000 for jet oil, gasoil and diesel consignments.
During her questioning, Dr Caruana repeatedly said she was not convinced that Mr Farrugia was telling the whole truth.
“I was given the pardon to tell the truth. You think I would attempt to protect anyone at this stage? Do you know where this whole issue has led me?”
“I am not protecting anyone,” he insisted when Dr Caruana warned him of the consequences of not telling the truth or being selective in his replies so as to protect someone.
First they got all the information they needed and then used it against me to inflict maximum damage
Replying to other questions, he said there was no link between the gifts he gave people at Enemalta and the way they treated him in their business deals. The gifts had no bearing on Enemalta’s decision not to terminate Trafigura’s contract to supply fuel outside the requested specification of 0.7 per cent sulphur content.
Questioned by Nationalist MP Beppe Fenech Adami, Mr Farrugia said the information that surfaced in the media had come from the hard drive of his computer at PowerPlan Limited, a company he co-owned with his brothers and a subsidiary of John’s Group.
Referred to an investigative audit ordered by the former group consultant and chairman, Tony Debono, a former ambassador, Mr Farrugia said the person who carried out the audit was Joe Azzopardi, Mr Debono’sbusiness partner.
The audit was carried out in August 2010 and he resigned a month later, Mr Farrugia said.
Mr Azzopardi said in his report that he had examined Mr Farrugia’s computers and had found that some items had been deleted so he appointed Geoffrey Farrugia to retrieve the data with the collaboration of IT expert Stephen Farrugia Sacco.
Mr Farrugia said his siblings and Mr Debono knew about the bribes “from day one”.
A meeting took place in Geneva at Totsa and Mr Debono had tried to impress by saying he was an ambassador and even produced his blue diplomatic passport.
Another meeting, also in Geneva, was attended by Mr Debono and the current Justice Minister Manuel Mallia as the company’s lawyer.
Asked about his friend Ronnie Agius, Mr Farrugia said Mr Agius had supported him and insisted that he was not involved in this matter. He had tried to act as a mediator to save the family.
On Mr Debono, Mr Farrugia reiterated that the former ambassador had threatened him through Mr Agius. “Mr Debono asked me for money and I never paid him so he decided to threaten me by telling Mr Agius that he wanted to destroy my family. And he found a way of doing it,” he said.
He did not know who retrieved the information from his computer “but first they got all the information they needed, including the e-mails which were published, and then used them against me to inflict maximum damage”.
He confirmed that all the documentation made public in January 2013 had been available to Mr Debono, Dr Mallia and his siblings since the audit in September 2010.
Asked to what he could attribute the delay, Mr Farrugia said he had concluded negotiations with his siblings and the €1 million settlement had nearly all been paid.
I was given the pardon to tell the truth. You think I would attempt to protect anyone at this stage?
Mr Debono knew that he used to bribe people before 2008 and he knew about Tancred Tabone and Frank Sammut, Mr Farrugia said.
Replying to questions by PN MP Jason Azzopardi, Mr Farrugia said Mr Debono had set up a PR company, Peppermint PR Communications, with composer Gerard James Borg and MEP candidate Miriam Dalli. He was also involved in the setting up of cellular provider Ping by the Nationalist Party.
The committee meets again in February.