Former Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando told the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee this evening that while he was a Nationalist MP he never heard anything about wrongdoing in oil procurement by Enemalta and his concerns were about the use of heavy fuel oil instead of gas.
The committee was continuing its discussion on oil procurement procedures in Enemalta in 2008. The discussion is based on a report by the auditor-general as well as revelations about kickbacks in the granting of contracts.
Asked by minister Owen Bonnici how former minister Austin Gatt used to operate, Dr Pullicino Orlando said he had no direct experience of working with Dr Gatt as minister but he worked with him before 1996 when he was PN general secretary, and he actually encouraged him to stand for election.
Dr Bonnici noted that while he was Nationalist MP, Dr Pullicino Orlando had requested the PN to discuss the BWSC issue within the PN structure.
Dr Pullicino Orlando said several MPs, at least five, had sought such a discussion and expressed concerns over some decisions in the energy sector. His concerns were about the use of heavy fuel oil when the government a decade previously had decided to opt for gas.
The replies which the concerned MPs were given, including those by Dr Gatt, did not reassure them, Dr Pullicino Orlando said.
Asked if he saw a link between the continued use of heavy fuel oil and the way how people like George Farrugia were profiting from the contracts, Dr Pullicino Orlando said that what he knew came from the media.
Furthermore, when Mr Farrugia was given a presidential pardon, he was no longer a member of the PN parliamentary group.
Asked what impression he had when ministerial responsibility for Enemalta was transferred to Tonio Fenech from Austin Gatt, Dr Pullicino Orlando said it appeared that the corporation started operating more smoothly.
Replying to questions by Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis on whether the change of policy back to heavy fuel oil from gas was discussed by the PN parliamentary group, Dr Pullicino Orlando said it was not. Nor were Enemalta's financial position or its procurement rules discussed, as far as he recalled.
He said MEPs did occasionally attend parliamentary group meetings.
Dr Pullicino Orlando said that what he knew about George Farrugia was from the newspapers.
He did not know of anyone within the parliamentary group being suspicious about oil procurement methods before the scandal broke in the media, he said.
Dr Pullicino Orlando said one of the main reasons why he resigned from the PN were the attitudes of Richard Cachia Caruana and Austin Gatt.
He viewed Dr Gatt as being a man who needed to be reined in, but Dr Gonzi did not sufficiently hold back on the reins as Eddie Fenech Adami did. Dr Gatt took controversial decisions on BWSC, Arriva and the Drydocks. He reiterated, however that he did not know about the oil procurement issues.
Despite resigning from the parliamentary group, he respected then Prime Minister Gonzi to the final day and never considered bringing down the government, out of loyalty to the constituency which elected him.
Dr Pullicino Orlando said Dr Gatt had lied about him, having claimed that he (Pullicino Orlando) had said he was not prepared to serve in the Cabinet if Austin Gatt was there.
He had never sought any position. Eddie Fenech Adami had offered him the post of parliamentary secretary but had turned down the offer because he wanted to stick to his profession, Dr Pullicino Orlando said.
Committee chairman said questions needed to return to the subject.
Replying to other questions, Dr Pullicino Orlando said that when he was an MP he had raised concerns about electricity bills.
He did not know of any lobby group for the continued use of heavy fuel oil.
Dr Azzopardi said the government MPs through their questioning were on a fishing expedition.
Replying to other questions, he said he was among MPs who could not understand the continued use of heavy fuel oil when the decision 10 years previously was to use gas. However Dr Gatt had argued that the use of HFO and the commissioning of the BWSC plant would lead to lower electricity bills.
Dr Beppe Fenech Adami (PN) asked Dr Pullicino Orlando whether he could comment that gas had still not been introduced, two and a half years after the election.
Dr Bonnici said this was not relevant.
Dr Fenech Adami said Dr Pullicino Orlando had represented the Labour Party on the media and elsewhere.
Replying, Dr Pullicino Orlando said the sooner the conversion to gas was made, the better.
As tempers rose, Dr Pullicno Orlando said he could be political too.
Dr Azzopardi said the Labour MPs brought this on by a line of questioning which had nothing to do with oil procurement.
Dr Pullicino Orlando said he was not ashamed to be part of Joseph Muscat's team. The PN had invited him back, but he refused.
At this point he called Dr Fenech Adami 'mohh ta' pizella' (pea brain). Dr Azzopardi protested and Dr Bonnici called for proper language.
The debate then ended after a brief angry exchange between government and opposition MPs over whose project the interconnector was, with Dr Bonnici clarifying that the project was started by the former government and completed by the present one, in the same way as it would complete the conversion to gas at the power station.