Fuel supplier resumes service after suspension over Enemalta fuel scandal

A foreign bunker fuel supplier has resumed operations at Malta, after the licence of its local agent, Fuelserve Ltd, was suspended when director Frank Sammut was charged with bribery after reports in MaltaToday showing that he had received kickbacks from commodities giant Trafigura.

Macoil resumed bunkering operations at Malta, helping to alleviate supply tightness at the Mediterranean port that has persisted since Macoil and Fuelserve were suspended from the market earlier this year, Platts news service reported yesterday.

Macoil declined to comment officially but a source was reported to have said that it had "obtained a new bunker license under its own name" that allows full operations of bunker fuel oil deliveries.

Macoil had to halt its operations in Malta in February because it was operating under a license belonging to Sammut's Fuelserve.

"The license under which we were operating as physical bunker supplier, actually belonged to another local company namely Fuelserve Ltd Malta," Macoil said in a statement at the time. "However, the licensor had some local problems and the license was withdrawn/suspended."

The license Macoil used was suspended because of the police investigation into bribery allegations relating to Frank Sammut during his time as chief executive of Enemalta's bunkering arm Mediterranean Oil Bunkering Corporation. Sammut admitted to police that he received about $240,000 in commissions from Dutch company Trafigura and French company Total, when he was a consultant to Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone in 2004.

Tabone faces similar charges of bribery.

None of the other companies whose licenses were suspended have returned to the market yet, according to Platts.