Emails hint at oil trader’s intimacy with political class

Commodities firm Trafigura appear to have been kept in the know about George Farrugia's meetings with energy minister Austin Gatt back in 2005, an email published by the Times of Malta has confirmed.

Gatt, who has sued MaltaToday for libel after this newspaper said that he had indeed held meetings with Farrugia, the Trafigura agent, has also been questioned by police in connection with allegations of kickbacks paid by Trafigura to a former Enemalta and MOBC official.

Farrugia, formerly a partner in family business John's Group of Companies, is expected to turn State's witness after the Cabinet approved a presidential pardon for the entrepreneur.

The urgent cabinet meeting convened on Friday evening led local newsrooms to speculate that it was called to take maximum political mileage for Lawrence Gonzi's success at the European Council after clinching €1.12 billion in EU funds.

And yet, the eleventh-hour meeting was convened to discuss the pardon for Farrugia, sole shareholder of the company Aikon Ltd, and a central figure in the investigations being conducted by the police into the allegations of commissions paid by Trafigura, for the supply of oil to Enemalta.

The commissions were paid to former MOBC chief executive Frank Sammut into a Swiss bank account, whose beneficiary was Sammut through a Gibraltar-based company in 2004.

Austin Gatt, who was responsible for Enemalta at the time of the alleged kickbacks, has denied having any knowledge of wrongdoing while he was minister, and that he never discussed oil tenders with George Farrugia.

But new emails published by The Times confirm that George Farrugia was in regular contact with such figures as the Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone, to inform him on "details of [his] meeting with A.G. and some issues you should consider to do at EnMa."

In another 2005 email, Trafigura's Camille Kay asks Farrugia: "How did your meeting with the minister go? Any good feedback?

Tabone, who this week tendered his resignation as president of the Chamber of Commerce, has also been questioned by police.

On his part, Gatt said he had met Farrugia in the presence of ministry officials regarding a storage project they were developing. "The emails do not imply anything contract to what the minister said and none of them even remotely refer to Enemalta oil tenders. 'A.G' could be anyone," Gatt told The Times.

George Farrugia

Farrugia is represented legally by dissident Nationalist MP Franco Debono. He is accused of having siphoned off more than €6 million from his family's business according to a judicial protest filed by his brothers.

He allegedly short-changed the firm over contracts with Enemalta and other traders in 2010, when their oil trading company Powerplan, managed by George, lost millions in euros in agents' commissions, which it was meant to be making on local oil sales for Trafigura and Total. Powerplan was owed $1 for every metric ton of oil sold on the local market, but the Farrugias claim George Farrugia had been channelling the commission due to Powerplan to Aikon Ltd, which he owned.

It is believed the parties reached an out of court settlement in the region of €1.2 million.

Next week, the police are expected to press charges against at least four individuals involved in the Trafigura kickbacks, however this could be stalled if Farrugia's deposition leads the investigators to implicate new people who so far have not been interrogated by the police.

Earlier this week, MaltaToday was blocked from reporting attachment orders against those suspected in taking bribes. The suspects' lawyers quoted the Money Laundering Act to block MaltaToday from publishing the names.

In the aftermath of Farrugia's request to be granted a presidential pardon, Police Commissioner John Rizzo enquired with his chief investigators whether the pardon would benefit the inquiry. It appears that eventually, they came round to accepting the fact that Farrugia's deposition will implicate more people which would otherwise be difficult to charge.

MaltaToday's source believe there could be new angles to the revelations that could embarrass the government further, since it could reflect on 'disconcerting' connections that would only serve to shame the political class.

On the other hand, the Labour Party appears worried that the Farrugia revelations could remotely or indirectly rebound on their campaign by exhuming people linked to Labour.

Yesterday, the prime minister would neither confirm nor deny if all his ministers were present for the late Cabinet meeting, and whether a PN candidate had approached him to discuss the issue of a pardon before his public declaration to grant the pardon to any potential witness who could shed light on the Trafigura kickbacks.