In spite of being granted a Presidential pardon to turn State witness in the oil procurement scandal, George Farrugia was of little help to uncover any further corruption from 2005 onwards, security service head Michael Cassar said yesterday.
On the other hand, the arraignment of Enemalta’s former financial controller Tarcisio Mifsud and that of former petroleum division head Alfred Mallia [on allegations about events before 2005] could not have been possible without the presidential pardon, he said.
Mr Cassar was testifying before the Public Accounts Committee, which is probing the shortcomings flagged by the Auditor General in his report on Enemalta’s oil procurement between 2008 and 2011.
He said that he, Superintendent Paul Vassallo and Inspector Angelo Gafà were assigned to look into the case following revelations by Malta Today on January 20 last year. He was assistant police commissioner at the time.
He was involved until April 12, when he had to relinquish the case due to his appointment as head of the security service.
Mr Cassar recounted that he had offered Mr Farrugia a presidential pardon after learning from media reports that the Prime Minister was open to such a request.
He said the police had a strong case against ex-Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone and former corporation consultant Frank Sammut, but had very little information on any other possible scandals after 2005, after Mr Tabone’s departure.
Some two hours before the expiration of the 48-hour arrest period, Mr Farrugia’s body language was conveying messages that he knew much more in this regard, Mr Cassar said.
“At that stage I decided to table the offer for a presidential pardon, thinking that this would help uncover further corruption of which the police had no evidence,” Mr Cassar said.
The decision was also influenced by the fact that time was running out for the police and so they were forced to act quickly as Mr Farrugia would otherwise be set free.
I thought a pardon would help uncover further corruption of which the police had no evidence
“It was a case of so near but yet so far,” Mr Cassar said. However, he said that following the pardon Mr Farrugia proved to be of little help as he kept insisting that when Mr Tabone was no longer chairman, “things changed” and kickbacks stopped.
Earlier this month, Inspector Gafà had testified, also to the PAC, that the police had recommended filing charges against all except one of Mr Farrugia’s brothers (directors of oil trading company Trafigura), as they were aware of the corruption being perpetrated.
His remarks had raised questions as no such charges were ever filed. Probed about this matter, Mr Cassar yesterday said charges were not filed because the police had not received a number of bank documents that were deemed crucial to the case.
He was not in a position to brief the committee on any further developments, as this was the time he had been transferred to the secret service. Superintendent Paul Vassallo would probably be in a better position to clarify any queries, he added.
The committee was adjourned to next Tuesday when Mr Vassallo is expected to testify.