PAC meeting inspires verbal sparring between the two sides of the House

Monday's meeting of the Public Accounts Committee may have provided a good opportunity for both sides of the House to ask pertinent questions over the Auditor General's reports on post-2008 fuel procurement.

But it certainly did not hold the government and opposition back from verbal sparring: the government has accused the opposition of attempting to tear apart the work carried out by the NAO, while the Opposition has accused the government of refusing to implement certain NAO recommendations.

On Monday, Auditor General Anthony C. Mifsud endured a seven-hour grilling by members of the parliamentary committee scrutinising the report compiled by his office on Enemalta's fuel procurement between 2008 and 2011.

According to Parliamentary Secretary for Justice Owen Bonnici, who sits on the PAC, the Opposition's strategy was twofold: "It first attempted to undermine the work carried out by the Office of the Auditor General by casting doubts on its credentials, and then it accused it of not carrying out its work as it should have."

Defending himself from the flak he faced from the Opposition, the Auditor General at one point commented that he felt certain questions "were a ferocious attack on the independence" of his office.

Questioned by MaltaToday, Bonnici said it was also clear the opposition wanted to distance Austin Gatt from the administrative faults which occurred under his leadership of Enemalta.

"It was very evident that their only interest was to defend Austin Gatt at all costs, sidelining all the serious shortcomings flagged by the Auditor General," Bonnici added.

According to Nationalist MP Beppe Fenech Adami, Monday's meeting "proved" that the former infrastructure minister did not interfere in oil procurement matters.

"The meeting helped us all understand that the idea which is presently being promoted by the Labour Party, that Austin Gatt somehow interfered in the procurement of oil, is manifestly unfounded," Fenech Adami told MaltaToday.

He also accused the PL of attempting to use the NAO report as a weapon to hit out at the previous administration: "Labour wanted to use the report as a partisan tool to attack the Nationalist administration, in particular Austin Gatt."

Throughout the grilling, the Auditor General adopted a defensive approach, insisting the NAO audit was not an investigation but an audit of Enemalta's procurement strategy. He also seemed to hold back from commenting on the NAO's hard-hitting summary. Among other scathing comments, the NAO said it failed to comprehend how "decisions worth hundreds of millions of euros could have been subject to this abysmal level of record keeping and documentation, in blatant violation of the principles of management, good governance, accountability and transparency".

But when asked to react over these shortcomings, the Auditor General said the NAO was now satisfied that actions were taken to rectify the situation.

"It is clear from yesterday's meeting that numerous decisions were taken to address shortcomings in the fuel procurement process over the years, from as early as 2005," Fenech Adami said.

He went on to refer to a 2005 decision to introduce a Fuel Procurement Advisory Committee to map out fuel procurement and risk-management strategies and subsequently the establishment of a permanent Risk Management Committee in the field of fuel hedging and foreign exchange.

However, Fenech Adami insisted that the PAC meeting "highlighted" that the government was "refusing" to implement certain recommendations made by the National Audit Office, such as in the case of recording phone negotiations on fuel procurement.

In its report, the NAO did confirm an "abysmal lack of transparency".

"During both sessions, the Auditor General emphasised the blatant violation of principles which make up good governance and accountability," Bonnici said.

"The Labour government has made sure to see that this is taken care of and has taken the necessary actions to rectify the situation."

Among other measures, an independent observer, former Nationalist minister Michael Falzon has been appointed to the fuel procurement committee while all recommendations put forward by the Auditor General are being evaluated.