Corruption whistleblower ‘was politically motivated’

The oil corruption scandal was used for electoral purposes by whoever had an interest in doing so, former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday told a parliamentary committee.

Without mentioning names, Dr Gonzi said the corruption took place before 2004 but was only revealed during the electoral campaign in 2013.

Insisting that he was not referring to the newspaper that published the story, Dr Gonzi said whoever held the information should have revealed it to the police and not used it for electoral purposes.

He was appearing for the third time before the Public Accounts Committee that is probing the Auditor General’s findings on Enemalta’s fuel buying practices between 2008 and 2012.

But the committee’s line of questioning has gone beyond those findings to encapsulate the oil corruption scandal uncovered in 2013.

Answering questions by Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, a visibly frustrated Dr Gonzi said the question had to be asked whether anyone knew the corruption was going on but withheld the information to utilise it in a general election.

“It was sad that somebody had used corruption for political ends,” Dr Gonzi said, adding that no corruption had yet been flagged at Enemalta in the post-2005 period.

The former prime minister defended his former energy minister, Austin Gatt, under whose watch the corruption at Enemalta occurred.

Dr Gonzi said the former minister had executed instructions given to him to replace former Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone – who has been charged with corruption – and set up a fuel advisory committee in 2005.

He insisted the advisory committee was part of Enemalta’s internal checks and balances but acknowledged that more could have been done.

Asked by Parliamentary Secretary Justyne Caruana whether Mr Tabone’s removal in 2004 was fuelled by any speculation of wrongdoing, Dr Gonzi said it was part of a government-wide policy he adopted upon becoming Prime Minister to replace agency chairpersons.

Dr Gonzi was combative during the two-hour session as he engaged in repeated tit-for-tats with the government MPs.

He accused the PAC of not functioning according to parliamentary procedure when it probed cases that were before the courts.

However, when asked by Dr Bonnici whether he was formally raising a complaint, Dr Gonzi said he had no plan to do so.

The former PM also objected to the government MPs’ line of questioning over his acquaintance with pardoned oil trader George Farrugia’s wife, Cathy. He contested the implication that Mr Farrugia was given a pardon as “a favour” to Ms Farrugia.

Dr Gonzi knew Ms Farrugia as an employee at the head office of the Mizzi Group when he worked there but has denied being a close friend.

Asked by Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis whether he had mentioned his acquaintance with Ms Farrugia during the Cabinet meeting on February 8, 2013, that decided on the pardon, Dr Gonzi said he did not need to.

“This is the third time you’re asking the same question. No there was no need to inform them because it didn’t matter. The decision [to grant a pardon] was based on the advice of the Attorney General and the Police Commissioner,” he said, asking the MPs why they were treating him in this “insulting manner”.

Dr Gonzi insisted he had not done Ms Farrugia any favours, so much so that he had refused to meet her husband some years before over the privatisation of the petroleum division.