‘I never received as much as a hamper from George Farrugia’ – Fenech

In a highly charged Bondi+ program, Tonio Fenech and Gino Cauchi tried to shout each other down over the allegations that had emerged just hours earlier.

Fenech took the line that the PL’s financial administrator Joe Cordina was aware of the oil procurement scandal through his role as director of the fiduciary company Intershore Ltd.  

“The company Intershore Ltd. was the facade for all that was happening at Aikon Ltd. The directors involved in this company knew of the transactions occurring at Aikon Ltd. and are responsible as they were the sole shareholders and directors of Intershore Ltd. It is impossible that they did not know what was going on,” Fenech said.

He also categorically denied Evarist Bartolo’s claim that he had received some form of gift from George Farrugia, saying that he had never even met Farrugia. Fenech said that he will be taking the necessary legal action against Bartolo for his claims.

The PL’s representative Gino Fenech played up the fact that one of the other directors of Intershore Ltd. was Martin Fenech, a former PN candidate who stood for the bi-election to replace Tonio Borg.

Gino Cauchi attacked the fact that Tonio Fenech and Paul Borg Olivier constantly mentioned Joe Cordina during the PN’s earlier press conference, but “did not have the decency to say that another one of the shareholders of Intershore Ltd. was Martin Fenech.”

“Tonio Fenech is implicating Martin Fenech and Charles Scerri, who tonight completely denied what Fenech and the PN said. Martin Fenech was a former candidate and a member of the PN. Even he has turned against you now,” Cauchi said to the finance minister.

Fenech countered that the PL had pushed the Intershore link in the corruption scandal to one side.

“When I mentioned Intershore Ltd., the PL attacked me because they said that this company is irrelevant. Why did they not want us to discuss this company. What is that” Fenech questioned.

“It is because Joe Cordina was involved. Joe Cordina resigned tonight. There must be a reason why he resigned. We have passed all the documents on to the Police Commissioner,” Fenech said.

Lou Bondi questioned Cauchi on this, asking why Cordina felt the need to resign.

“Cordina resigned in order to defend himself privately. The PL is not part of this scandal. Until now none of these three persons have been called by the Police Commissioner to speak about their involvement with George Farrugia,” Cauchi said.

The direction of the program was then steered to George Farrugia’s alleged tax evasion, and whether PL’s financial administrator was aware of this tax evasion given his role as director of Intershore. Intershore Ltd. was responsible for administering Aikon Ltd., along with various other companies.

“The PL has desperately been trying to link a government minister to the oil procurement scandal. What has emerged today is that Joe Cordina, the PL’s financial administration is implicated in this very case. This emerges clearly form the documents presented from the MFSA. The company Intershore, who Joe Cordina was director of, is responsible for administering Aikon Ltd,” Fenech said.

For clarities sake, George Farrugia the person granted a presidential pardon was Aikon Ltd.’s director.

Despite expressing his incredulity at the possibility of Joe Cordina not knowing about the corruption taking place at Aikon Ltd., Fenech refused to answer when asked point blank whether Cordina was in the know about the corruption.

Turning to the presidential pardon, Gino Cauchi expressed his discomfort at the possibility that a minister potentially involved in the case was present during the cabinet’s discussion of the case.

“I want the truth to come out. Our problem is the way that the pardon was given. Should the whole cabinet have been briefed by the Police Commissioner when one cabinet minister was mentioned in the case,” Cauchi questioned.

Fenech insisted that the cabinet had acted in the correct manner. He also alluded that the PL had opposed the granting of the pardon due to the Joe Cordina link.

“We acted on the recommendations of the Police Commissioner and the Attorney General. They felt that the pardon was needed in order to gain more evidence on the case. The PL has been trying to hide that their financial administrator Joe Cordina is present at the centre of this scandal.”

Latching on to this, Lou Bondi asked why the PL would have made such an issue out of the procurement scandal if they knew that Joe Cordina was involved.

“Now we can understand the attack on the pardon. It is a fact that Joe Cordina is the PL’s financial administrator. I do not think that Cordina resigned for nothing,” Fenech said.

He also drew a distinction between the PN’s Martin Fenech, who is “just a candidate,” and Joe Cordina, who is “a candidate and the PL’s financial administrator.”

With the plot thickening by the minute, the topic of discussion once again turned to the allegations made by Evarist Bartolo, namely that Tonio Fenech has received “a gift” from George Farrugia when he was given ministerial responsibility for Enemalta.

“I never received any gifts from George Farrugia, not even a single Christmas hamper,” Fenech said.

As the shouting matched degraded further, Lou Bondi had to cut off both of his guests' microphones.

The final topic of discussion was that of Toni Abela and the “white powder” or “white block” at a PL band club.

Gino Cauchi dismissively said that both cases had fallen under police scrutiny, and no further action was taken.

Tonio Fenech replied that no action was taken because Toni Abela admitted that the evidence had been destroyed.  He also brought up the fact that opposition leader Joseph Muscat was made aware that “white powder” was involved and had not taken any action.