Those convicted of betraying the trust of the minister who appointed them should be severely punished, former minister Austin Gatt said yesterday.
Speaking on the oil procurement allegations at his second hearing in front of the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, Dr Gatt said such persons would also have betrayed the trust of the people. The courts should make an example of them.
Dr Gatt is one of the PAC’s witnesses, as it analyses Enemalta’s oil procurement procedures between 2008 and 2010, when he was responsible for the corporation.
The Auditor General had published a damning report on the corporation’s fuel procurement practices and hedging, raising questions about lack of record-keeping and of proper testing for inferior quality fuel among others.
Yesterday Dr Gatt said he had never had an inkling of irregularities in oil procurement, and that he would have otherwise gone straight to the Police Commissioner as he had done in the past.
He had actually stopped the award of a €26 million IT contract for Mater Dei Hospital when he suspected that an official was leaking information. A person was eventually arraigned, Dr Gatt noted.
The former minister added that he had even asked the police to investigate claims of corruption in vehicle licensing.
Meanwhile, he insisted throughout the hearing yesterday that he had not known that the minutes of Enemalta’s oil procurement meetings were not documented properly. Had he known, he would have immediately ordered proper minute-taking.
Answering questions earlier in the hearing, Dr Gatt noted that, while in 2003 one of the main priorities as a minister was preparing for accession into the EU, tariffs gained priority in 2008, following the explosion in oil prices.
Despite a surcharge in 2007, a higher tariff had to be set, considering the increase in oil prices.
Towards the final part of the hearing, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici asked him whether he would have done anything differently, considering the corruption going on at a time when he was minister. Dr Gatt replied that there were things that should not have taken place and others that could have been done differently.
Corruption was possible no matter the controls in place, he said, acknowledging, however, that the minutes of oil procurement meetings should have been taken down properly.
Pressed by Dr Bonnici, he observed that people suspected corruption in the Café Premier controversy, for example.
Insisting there had been rampant corruption under Dr Gatt’s watch, Dr Bonnici said the former minister was instead bringing up cases for which there had been audits in place.
Dr Gatt was also asked whether he had met pardoned George Farrugia since retiring from politics. He replied in the negative, adding that his contact with those related to politics was limited to a wave when they met on the street.