Police looking into similarity between Sammut and Farrugia invoices

The allegations were revealed by the last two Sunday editions of MaltaToday and have since rocked the political establishment and rekindled the perception that corruption is institutionalised.

Police sources refused to answer any MaltaToday questions about the case, but simply indicated that the investigations were extensive and ongoing.

The police appear to have taken particular interest in the fact that the two invoices, issued by Frank Sammut and George Farrugia separately to Trafigura and published in MaltaToday, had similar templates and appear to originate from the same 'billing format.'

Frank Sammut, a former consultant to the Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone, has been extensively interrogated by the police after a story which appeared in MaltaToday's Sunday edition which showed that he had received extensive kickbacks for oil sold by Trafigura to Enemalta.

It is not known whether Frank Sammut has implicated other people in the kickback scandals.

Sammut was reported in MaltaToday as having set up a company in Gibraltar, and received several kick backs for oil procured for EneMalta which were duly deposited in a Swiss bank account.

His job at Enemalta was specifically created to advise on 'oil purchases.'

Yesterday, barely an hour after Minister Austin Gatt left after questioning at the Police HQ in Floriana, senior police officers were passed copies of the material that appeared in last Sunday's edition of  MaltaToday.

The copies given to the police are part of extensive material collated in the last two weeks in MaltaToday, and confirms contacts that took place between representatives of the international oil commodities industry Total and Trafigura, and Enemalta officials and others.