Appeals court upholds acquittal of former Enemalta official accused by oil trader

A court of appeal has upheld the acquittal of Enemalta’s former chief projects officer, who was found not guilty of corruption charges when he was pointed out by George Farrugia, the oil trader who was pardoned by the Stated.

Ferris, 54 of Sliema, was last year acquitted of charges after being accused by State’s witness George Farrugia of receiving three gifts of silver from the oil trader.

His testimony had been deemed more believable when measured against the facts, in that it did not appear that Ferris had accepted to participate in any discussion about oil procurement tenders with third parties at any point.

Farrugia was granted a presidential pardon to reveal everything about a network of bribery for the procurement of oil to state corporation Enemalta, after MaltaToday broke the story that a former official had received a kickback from oil giant Trafigura. Farrugia was at the time a middlemen for Trafigura and TOTSA.

Ferris was defended by lawyers Veronique Dalli and Kenneth Grima.

Farrugia had accused Ferris of having accepted a Christmas present, but the court said this did not constitute the “meeting of wills” requirement for the offence of corruption to subsist.

It could not be said that Farrugia was a victim or had been tricked into suffering any financial loss, as he had voluntarily given the objects as a gift under no obligation whatsoever, the first court held.

Under conditions of his pardon, Farrugia had told police all he knew about a system of kickbacks for oil procurement to senior Enemalta officials, and gifts to management when dealing with the privatisation process of the corporation’s petroleum division.

Farrugia identified Ferris as Enemalta’s liaison officer for the privatisation of the corporation’s petroleum division, and accused him of having asked for €40,000 in return for help in the adjudication.

According to Farrugia, Ferris had also asked him for gifts to be given to the board members: Farrugia claimed to have spent €8,000 in buying four silver plates, each worth €2,000 each using a credit card belonging to Farrugia’s firm Powerplan Limited.

Farrugia passed on the trays to Ferris, who in turn – it transpired – had kept them for himself, and had taken them to Azzopardi Jewellers and exchanged them for an antique 1828 tray and some other items. The tray was found inside Ferris’s home during a subsequent search, and seized as evidence.

During interrogations, Ferris categorically denied any involvement in corruption, until he was made to confront Farrugia and admitted to having received the silver trays and going to Azzopardi Jewellers with them.

Ferris was made redundant during Enemalta’s restructuring process, leaving with a  €64,000 golden handshake.

He denied ever having asked for €40,000 but admitted to having gone to Azzopardi Jewellers to exchange the trays, and take something else instead.