The Public Accounts Committee is this evening continuing its questioning of oil trader George Farrugia as part of its investigations into oil procurement practices. 

This is the fourth meeting for which Mr Farrugia has been summoned. Mr Farrugia has admitted his part in the granting of commissions for oil procurement contracts and been granted a presidential pardon to reveal all.

At the beginning of today's sitting, Keith Mercieca from the National Audit Office presented his workings of commissions Mr Farrugia had given between 1999 and 2006.

He said the total he had arrived to was $905,000, but this was not entirely accurate as it was based on a number of assumptions.

When the testimony of Mr Farrugia began, Labour MP Justyne Caruana said she was not convinced that he is saying the whole truth. She asked whether there were any parameters in his presidential pardon.

He replied that what he was saying was being misinterpreted. He said the reference to 'the big one' was in an email with the heading Re payments.

Dr Caruana asked Mr Farrugia whether he had a say, directly or indirectly, with the presidential pardon he was granted. To this Mr Farrugia replied with a blunt "no".

When asked to explain, he said he had not asked anyone to intervene as he had not contacted anyone and as far as he knew, no one had intervened.

Dr Caruana referred to an email sent on January 19, 2005, in which Mr Farrugia  was asked about a meeting he had with former minister Austin Gatt. 

Mr Farrugia said the meeting was about a request by Trafigura to increase its storage at Mediterranean Oil Bunkering Company.

Questioned further about the gifts he gave Enemalta officials, Mr Farrugia said there was no link between the gifts he gave certain people and the way these people treated him in their business deals.

"I never took advantage," he said, adding that the gifts had no bearing in Enemalta's decision not to terminate Trafigura's contract for supplying fuel which did not meet contract specifications.

Mr Farrugia said he often spoke to Enemalta officials on oil shipments but most of them were not one-to-one meetings. He said he could not remember the frequency and the number of meetings he had with them.

When there was the problem related to the provision of off-spec oil shipments, he spoke to former CEO Karl Camilleri.

He explained that their children attended the same school and when he went to collect his son from school, he sometimes met him outside. He said that when Enemalta had cash flow problems, the company would speak to him to get a credit extension from Trafigura. There were instances when contractors default and Enemalta would approach him to furnish fuel oil at short notice. "Where I could help, I helped."

Replying to a comment by Dr Caruana that he was saying half the truth, he said: "I was given the pardon to say 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 repeatedly warned him of the consequences of not telling the whole truth or being selective in his replies so as to protect someone.

Mr Farrugia said that after the December 23 PAC sitting, he received three calls in quick succession. One answered by his 12 year old son and he put the phone down. The other calls were taken by his 18 year old daughter and the person on the phone said ried jirrovinalek l ommok. He reported the matter to the police.

He said a few days later, he went to the police station to collect the report number and passed it on to Police Inspector Jonathan Ferris. Otherwise, he said he had not been threatened by anyone.

Do you feel scared? Dr Caruana asked, to which he replied "no", although he was worried something would happen to the people he cared for. "I leave it up to God."

Questioned by Nationalist MP Beppe Fenech Adami, Mr Farrugia said he did not keep track of bribes he would have paid.

Asked where the information that surfaced in the media had come from, Mr Farrugia said this came from the hard drive of his computer at PowerPlan Limited, adding that he had not given anyone any permission to access this computer. The person who carried out the investigative audit, Joe Azzopardi, was chosen by consultant Tony Debono when he was still a director.

"They had called me and read out a letter prepared by Mr Debono and addressed to the board in which they mentioned an audit report because they suspected in me. I had signed a paper but some time later I sent an email to Mr Debono and copied one of my siblings in which I asked to revoke the signature because I did not agree with the engagement of Mr Azzopardi."

"The audit was carried out in August 2010 and I resigned a month later."

He said he never met Mr Azzopardi who said in his report that he had examined Mr Farrugia's computers and had found that some items had been deleted "even though this was company property".

Mr Farrugia said Jeffrey Farrugia, who was Mr Debono's business partner, was appointed to retrieve deleted information and he worked in conjunction with Stephen Farrugia Sacco who was usually appointed as a court expert in IT matters.

He said his siblings knew about the bribes.

Mr Farrugia said a meeting took place in Geneva at Totsa for which Mr Debono, Chris Farrugia, John's Group chief executive, Mr Azzopardi and Gordon Farrugia were present. Mr Farrugia said Mr Debono tried to impress Totsa by saying he was an ambassador and also showed them his diplomatic passport. He did not know what else had been discussed. In another meeting, also in Geneva, Dr Manuel Mallia was present, along with Mr Debono. The aim of the meeting was an extension of the contract for the following year. He said the company lawyer, David Farrugia Sacco was abroad so Dr Mallia was brought into the picture.