Tranter arraignment betrays flawed investigations over oil procurement scandal

Former Enemalta chairman Alex Tranter is expected to be arraigned in court in the coming weeks, but the police charges are unrelated to the wide-ranging Enemalta oil procurement scandal.

As reported by MaltaToday in May, Tranter came under investigation over the alleged misuse of funds at Enemalta and is expected to face charges of misappropriation of money.

The most noteworthy investigation was carried out on an exorbitant expenditure spree during foreign travel – with the expenses having been covered by Tranter’s Enemalta credit card.

MORE: Thousands spent by former Enemalta chairman using company credit card

Tranter, appointed chairman of the state utility by Nationalist minister Austin Gatt in 2005, was also subject to a parallel investigation by the Enemalta internal audit office.

Investigators focused on a sizeable chunk of expenditure that is “clearly unrelated to Enemalta work”.

While the police worked on audit work carried out by Enemalta’s internal office, MaltaToday is informed that matters of concern being flagged were the use of three cars for his private use.

Police investigations on Tranter flagged a profligate preference for luxury hotels across Europe and the US – one of the hotels was said to have cost €1,500 in total expenses for the day – as well as his other expensive restaurant meals charged to Enemalta.

In August, pardoned oil trader George Farrugia admitted in court that he paid Lm40,000 (€93,000) in cash commissions to former Enemalta officials Alfred Mallia and Tarcisio Mifsud.

Farrugia, the lubricants importer who was granted a presidential pardon to turn State’s evidence on a bribery investigation, was summonsed to testify in the compilation of evidence against Enemalta’s former petroleum chief Alfred Mallia who, along with Enemalta financial controller Tarcisio Mifsud and five other men, is facing corruption charges in connection with kickbacks and commissions they are alleged to have received from Farrugia for the supply of oil to Enemalta.

Moreover, Tranter’s predecessor, Tancred Tabone, was last year charged with corruption and money laundering.

However, despite heading the company between 2005 and 2010 and chairing Enemalta’s Fuel Procurement Committee (FPC) between 2008 and March 2010 Tranter has so far escaped charges over the oil procurement scandal.

Under Tranter’s tenure, Enemalta awarded 16 tenders, more than under any other chairman, to TOTSA and Trafigura, two oil firms associated with George Farrugia, and which to this day remain blacklisted by Enemalta.

Following MaltaToday’s revelation on the oil scandal, the Auditor General released a damning report flagging serious shortcomings in the accountability of the way fuel was purchased by Enemalta between 2008 and 2011.

The report triggered the police investigation, which is still ongoing.

In July, the former chairman of Enemalta’s fuel procurement advisory committee, Joseph Falzon, told the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that Tranter had a lot to answer for and owed the country an apology for purchasing oil and hedging fuel and currency for billions of dollars without obtaining quotations and keeping minutes.

“As chairman, Tranter was purchasing $1.5 billion for five years and I cannot understand how they were purchasing and hedging fuel without quotes. You should ask Tranter about this. These persons owe an apology to the people. How do we know whether these were the cheapest bids when there are no minutes and quotations? You should also ask him whether any commissions were paid on bank loans and other purchasing agreements,” Falzon had told the PAC members.

Tranter was chairman of Enemalta during the time the controversial decision was taken to choose Danish firm BWSC for the supply of new turbines for an extension to the Delimara power station.

His conflict of interest – he was a business partner of BWSC’s local agent Nazzareno Vassallo, of Vassallo Builders Group – was ignored by the investments ministry at the time. Tranter however did not attend board meetings discussing the BWSC tender.

Throughout his Enemalta chairmanship, Tranter was a director of Vassallo Builders subsidiaries Caremalta, LBM Breweries and Vassallo Joiners, and a co-shareholder in software company Makeezi with Vassallo Builders itself.

Tranter resigned as chairman in February 2010 when finance minister Tonio Fenech took over Enemalta: MaltaToday had then revealed Tranter was a director of Sunray Malta, a company sold to US solar power giant SunPower for €200 million and which was in partnership with Vassallo Builders Group in an expression of interest to provide the government with 75,000 square metres of solar panels.

Tranter returned to the public eye as a witness in the Public Accounts Committee hearings on the procurement of oil supplies by Enemalta, held shortly after MaltaToday broke the story of kickbacks paid on the supply of oil consignments to Enemalta.

When asked about the Auditor General’s report that flagged serious shortcomings on fuel procurement during his time, Tranter admitted that there was cause for concern on the findings.