Oil trader George Farrugia. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

The oil trader granted a presidential pardon to turn State witness in the oil procurement scandal has been summoned to appear in front of the Public Accounts Committee tomorrow evening.

Parliament yesterday made a formal request for George Farrugia’s testimony to be heard.

The parliamentary committee is probing the shortcomings flagged by the Auditor General in his report on Enemalta’s oil procurement between 2008 and 2011.

So far, only Enemalta officials have testified at the PAC’s twice-weekly meetings since August.

At the November 20 meeting it was agreed to suspend the hearings for a couple of weeks to give Parliament time to summon the remaining witnesses.

Former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and ex-ministers Austin Gatt and Tonio Fenech are among the high-profile names in the list of more than 50 witnesses.

Former Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone and Frank Sammut, who are both pleading not guilty to corruption charges in connection with the scandal, are also on the list.

So far, only Enemalta officials have testified

Mr Farrugia was the local representative of international commodities giants Trafigura and Totsa, with the latter winning the lion’s share of contracts during the period in question.

During the hearings it transpired that in September 2011, Trafigura had been fined $250,000 for breach of contract over excessive levels of sulphur in a number of consignments.

It was also revealed that the corporation’s CFO Antoine Farrugia had dinner meetings with Mr Farrugia.

Meanwhile, Australia Hall will be on the agenda of tonight’s meeting, following an Opposition request for the PAC to probe the government’s decision to drop legal proceedings against the Labour Party for the return of the Pembroke building.

Both sides will tonight discuss the procedure to be followed.

In the second part of the sitting the PAC will resume hearings on the auditor’s report, with former Enemalta CEO Karl Camilleri called to testify for the second time following a request by Labour MPs.

In September Mr Camilleri had said he was granted permission to keep his laptop after leaving the corporation.

However former Enemalta chairman William Spiteri Bailey later testified that the understanding had been Mr Camilleri would return all confidential and sensitive information stored on the laptop and expressed disappointment that this had not been done.