€100,000 golden handshake for Frank Sammut in 2004

The man at the centre of allegations for having received commissions from Trafigura for the supply of oil to Enemalta, was paid a Lm41,000 golden handshake (€95,000) when his contract was terminated in 2004.

It is believed his contract was terminated on the cessation of operations of MOBC, of which Sammut was chief executive, as a bunkering operation when it was sold to the government as part of a recapitalisation of Enemalta.

Sammut, who was yesterday questioned by police, was revealed by MaltaToday on Sunday to have been the beneficiary of monies paid by Trafigura into a Swiss bank account, that were deposited at a Gibraltar-based company.

"The contract was terminated for the reasons stated in the letter by the chairman to Mr Sammut, which has been published last Monday. Sammut, as per the contract's terms, and following legal advice, was paid a severance package of Lm41,090.28," a finance ministry spokesperson said.

A contract supplied by the ministry shows Sammut was engaged as CEO of the MOBC on 1 August 2000, on an annual salary of Lm12,000 (€28,000), a Lm1,000 (€2,300) performance bonus, an executive car and petrol allowance, mobile phone and health insurance cover.

Sammut, a petroleum chemist by profession, joined MOBC in 1988: he was an Enemalta director between 1987-1990; a member of Enemalta's fuel procurement committee between 1987-1998; a consultant to the Enemalta chairman between 1992 and 1994.

Sammut was also an employee of the Mediterranean Oil Bunkering Corporation, the bunkering arm for Enemalta, between 1988 and 2004.

By 2004, when he was chief executive, his contract was terminated by a Cabinet decision when MOBC was sold to the government to recapitalise Enemalta, and when it ceased bunkering operations.

The finance ministry however has also added that he became a consultant to Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone between August 2003 and August 2004 on a one-year contract where he was tasked with "reorganising and rationalising" the storage of petroleum products at Enemalta. He was paid Lm8,000 (€18,600).

His consultancy contract obliged him "not to put himself in a position where there is a conflict between his personal interest and his duty towards the Corporation."

Austin Gatt's former head of secretariat Claudio Grech has also defended the former investments minister, who had been responsible for Enemalta at the time, pointing out on TVM's Bondiplus on Tuesday that Sammut had been serving as a consultant to Tancred Tabone at the time of the alleged kickbacks.