Yet another police f*** up

I will not be commenting on former Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and his attempt at Hara Kiri on Xarabank last Friday, neither on the inexplicable decision to award a Saudi Prince a medal on Republic Day – very understandable of course, the awarding I mean.

It is very understandable if you associate the awarding of medals with certain considerations. Distributing medals is what happens around Buckingham Palace, where the Queen is forced to preside over awards which are politically driven.

Here is a prince from the very intolerant and undemocratic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who sued Forbes because they underestimated his riches.

Not 26 billion, he said, but 30 billion.

I pray that my defamation cases were driven by the same silly concerns. 

Sorry to sabotage the Christmas spirit but I have to say that today’s front-page story returns to haunt our readers because the police have returned to their traditional awful ways.

Michael Cassar believes he has closed the investigation. In reality he just skimmed the surface.

The Maltese police are in essence presumptuous investigators and professional in believing that they are capable.

The Farrugia brothers, once fervent Nationalists who supported two heavyweight Nationalist ministers in the 2008 campaign and before, will be charged with ‘knowledge of bribery’.

From 2002 until 2010 Cathy Farrugia, who was never questioned by the police, personally oversaw the issuing of hundreds of invoices linked to the oil scandal.

The charges, by the way, were finalised when Manuel Mallia was minister, so if Simon Busuttil wants to accuse Mallia of having influenced some process he had better think twice this time round. Busuttil is giving me the impression of a Robocop, abetted needless to say by the ruthless Chris Said.

Loquacious new Commissioner of Police Michael Cassar, who loves the media more than he should, said that the brothers would be charged. He would have done well if he had reserved the first weeks in his new post to say nothing to the media.

Needless to say he does not understand that they are the whistleblowers and not criminals.  George Farrugia and his wife are being painted as whistleblowers. My foot!

The Cathy Farrugia story is carried on page one, so what follows now are some questions and hints for Michael Cassar.

I am not impressed with the police, and even less with those who lead the corps. That is a comment based on my years in journalism.

The malaise in the Malta police is not endemic to this administration, it is a culture that has gripped the police corps ever since we knew it. When Tonio Borg and Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici were responsible it was no different.

Manuel Mallia has Sheehan, but let us not forget that Tonio Borg had Inspector Elton Taliana.

Michael Cassar has shown us he is rather inept at understanding the whole oil scandal and its ramifications.

To start with, he failed to call one of the key players in this oil bribery case, namely Cathy Farrugia, the wife of George Farrugia. The woman was central to the illicit and illegal issuing of invoices that would lead to Farrugia becoming a millionaire. He would buy land, property and cars while his brothers struggled in their business.

Farrugia was given a presidential pardon, but not his wife. And if Michael Cassar wishes to continue with his crusade of crucifying the Farrugia brothers he had better think again and draw up the charges for Cathy Farrugia fast. Because in my humble view she is a willing associate of her husband and the Farrugia brothers are the whistleblowers.

She was an accomplice and an active associate in the bribery that spanned over eight long years.

I find it difficult to believe that the idea of a pardon originated from that great political wind vane, the former PN dissident Franco Debono, who suddenly appeared next to George Farrugia as his lawyer in the two months before election day.  

I cannot believe that Cathy Farrugia, who knew Lawrence Gonzi very well, did not communicate with the Prime Minister before the idea of a pardon surfaced. 

If she did not, I would be very surprised.

It is highly unlikely that Franco Debono, who in January 2013, was simply derided by Lawrence Gonzi (for the right reasons) could have brokered the deal for a pardon for George Farrugia.

My hasty reading is that he may have been chosen as legal counsel to deflect any ‘malicious’ suggestion that the fact that Cathy knew Lawrence Gonzi influenced the latter’s decision to recommend the issue of a presidential pardon.

Yet, the thing that really confounds me is that George Farrugia was very economical with the truth.

And what is even worse is that Michael Cassar and Angelo Gafa believed him.

They believed for example that there was nothing happening between Tranter and Farrugia, when in fact the largest sales of oil between Trafigura and Enemalta were concluded when Tranter was there.

And yet Cassar simply believed what Farrugia had to say.

In my view Farrugia’s pardon is a sham and should be withdrawn.

Farrugia, a re-born Jesus freak, will of course forgive me for my opinion. I think that if he really believes in Jesus he will admit that his version of the facts is warped and wrong.

But let us face it, I think he has withheld very vital information, especially about his wife. Even his relations with Austin Gatt and other politicians are very different from what he has said they were.

When interrogating the brothers, Inspector Angelo Gafa, an over zealous inspector who now works with the security service, informed them that the cross they would be kissing was given to him as a gift by George Farrugia. 

He did not stop there. He told them he did not believe George shafted them 6.8 million euros but four million.

How sweet of him!

But let us rewind back to 2011, when Gonzi was approached by his security officer with information about the workings of George Farrugia against his brothers. Gonzi instructed his bodyguard to take the documents to his boss.

Did Gonzi’s security inform him that the papers were related to George Farrugia?

I find it very difficult to believe that he did not.

Lawrence Gonzi knew all too well that George Farrugia was Cathy’s husband.

This is not the right time to talk about the oil scandal. But the story will not end here and the facts that need to be published will definitely surface.

Cathy Farrugia is not the only person who needs to be questioned, there are others, including those who managed the finances of Aikon. And the police did not even have the good sense of calling them in.

Then, more important than everything else, is the written agreement that Trafigura finalised with Tranter’s Enemalta through George Farrugia, over a period which saw Farrugia’s illicit revenues for Aikon skyrocket.

And guess what – Farrugia has stated that he hardly knew or met Alex Tranter. 

Well, well.

Do please watch out for MaltaToday in the weeks ahead.