Defendant says he had no friendship with oil trader George Farrugia

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera began hearing the compilation of evidence against Ray Ferris, formerly the Chief Projects Officer at Enemalta, who is accused of corruption, receiving gifts from disgraced oil trader George Farrugia.

Ferris testified Tuesday to say that Farrugia had invited him for Christmas drinks in 2008 at his office, where instead the oil trader badgered him about a petroleum tender.

“He said that if I succeed in getting him the tender, he would offer me a job. I didn’t say yes, but I didn’t say no either as I was happy at Enemalta and was going to end up with a conflict of interest.”

Ferris said Farrugia had told him that he was going to open a new petrol station and that Ferris would be in charge of the marketing aspect. “I told him that I couldn’t say whether he would win the tender or not, but he spent the next fifteen minutes telling me how he intended to operate the petrol station were he to be awarded the tender.”

Ferris claimed that as he was getting into his car, Farrugia handed him a box wrapped in brown paper and two small red packages saying they were Christmas gifts for him.

“As I was leaving, he asked me to put a word in for him. I was shocked and my fight or flight instinct kicked in and I drove off. But as I got to my office, I found a crystal bowler and two crystal bomboniers the size of a can of tuna. They spent a year in my cabinet.”

Ferris said Farrugia had wanted him to influence the board adjudicating the 16 petroleum companies who had submitted expressions of interest. He explained that a preferred bidder had already been selected by the time Farrugia made his approach.

Of the ten companies who eventually competed for the tender, Farrugia’s company, PowerPlan, was not first or second choice.

Ferris said he did not report the gifts, fearing this would backfire on him ading that he was apprehensive about losing his job, being his family’s sole breadwinner. “I was like a mouse trying to get to my nest through a pack of lions,” he said, referring to Enemalta chairman Alex Tranter.

“After Karl Baldacchino was appointed [as CEO], I knew that Farrugia would talk to Baldacchino and I would see him talking with Pippo Pandolfino, Chief Financial Officer. He was also friends with Frank Sammut, and Tancred Tabone. I feared that I would be sacked if I told them that I had received three items from Farrugia.”

Ferris said Enemalta was “just like Pavi [supermarket]” with clients bringing in hampers to the state utility corporation.

Ferris was subsequently called in for questioning by the police, who repeatedly accused him of receiving four gifts worth €2,000 each and of asking George Farrugia for €40,000 in exchange for the tender, accusations which he consistently denied. “This back-and-forth exchange continued till the next morning,” he said.

“I always kept George Farrugia at arm’s length,” said Ferris. “I had never spoken to anybody about the adjudication board for that tender. I was entrusted with an important project and this would have caused embarrassment.”

As he represented the corporation in the Privatisation Unit, Ferris explained, he would maintain confidentiality. “In fact someone had reported me for keeping the others in the dark.”

Ferris said he believed that the trouble had started when he had refused to sign the BWSC contract. After that he began to be marginalised. “When George Farrugia gave me those two gifts, I was placed in an embarrassing situation. I always worked in good faith. Those were the first and last gifts I received from George Farrugia. I did not have a friendship with Farrugia beyond business.”