MaltaToday editor produces oil trader’s email communication over Austin Gatt meetings

MaltaToday managing editor Saviour Balzan deposited Monday a cache of previously unreleased emails showing ongoing communication between oil importer George Farrugia, members of TOTSA and Trafigura, whom he represented in Malta, as well as Enemalta officials like former chairman Tancred Tabone.

Balzan is being sued by former energy minister Austin Gatt, in a defamation suit related to the corruption inside Enemalta that led to corruption charges filed against Tabone and a former consultant Frank Sammut.

MaltaToday had broken the story that Sammut was paid commissions by Trafigura through an offshore account, for the supply of oil to the state energy corporation Enemalta.

READ MORE Emails from Farrugia showing he met Austin Gatt

Balzan today told a court that a member of former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi's security detail had already been handed the cache of emails in the summer of 2011. The security officer had approached Gonzi with the information, but was told to relay the information to his superior, Malta Security Services head Godfrey Scicluna. Scicluna, Balzan said, had communicated on the matter with a high-level official inside Gatt's ministry.

Balzan told the court that he had been informed that a number of these documents had been discarded and shredded, with the remainder passed on to the finance ministry. The matter was then passed on to the Tax Compliance Unit to investigate, but little was made of the suggestion that bribes could have been paid on the supply of oil to Enemalta.

Balzan said he would be summoning former ministry officials as witnesses in the case, but said the official was currently implicated in other proceedings related to the bribery criminal prosecution and could therefore incriminate himself on the matter.

Balzan said that it was in January 2012 that MaltaToday broke the story, and said the emails he was depositing in court - which he said were verified by an IT expert as the original correspondence - specifically mention the former minister Austin Gatt.

Emails

In one email dated 4 June, 2003, Farrugia told Tancred Tabone: "I am waiting for a confirmation from Total, will give you details re mtng with AG regarding Enemalta."

On 17 July, 2003, Farrguia told Trafigura official Naim Ahmed: "I met the new minister and the new chairman. Enemalta is interested in foreign partnerships. We cannot waste time so I need a reply quick."

In March 2004, Farrugia spoke to Total official Albert Fereres: "As promised I had meeting with the minister responsible for Enemalta. He

is very positive... he said 'Ask them if they want to take over all our storage facilities and totally run the game'."

On 22 March, 2005, Farrugia told Tabone: "Hi Tancred, will meet Austin this afternoon. Can I meet you after?" Then in April 2005 Farrugia communicates details of his meeting with Austiin Gatt to Trafigura officials.

Back in February 2013, during a press conference held at his ministry, Austin Gatt had claimed emails being published by MaltaToday relating to the case had been "fake", in one instance saying there were three difference versions of the email being floated on social media channels with a Maltese heading, an English heading, and a totally different format.

As it turned out, Gatt was quickly shown to have jumped to a mistaken conclusion in a bid to divert attention from the case. Gatt had denied meeting businessman George Farrugia over any alleged contracts for the procurement of fuel consignments to state utility Enemalta.

"Gatt later held another press conference at the PN headquarters, which I attended, and where I declared that I never claimed nor stated that he had been bribed or received kickbacks himself. What I wrote was that amongst the meetings Farrugia had met, included several with Austin Gatt, and pertaining to lucrative oil deals. I never said any bribery took place during these meetings, but surely they spoke about the oil trade business. So it is impossible that Gatt, the energy minister, was not aware of what was going on at Enemalta."