Updated | Fenech confronts oil trader: ‘Sister-in-law gave me token of admiration’

Updated at 7:20pm with Labour statement

It was oil trader George Farrugia and his brother Raymond who gave finance minister Tonio Fenech an artisanal Maltese clock (tal-lira) that the trader's sister-in-law made as a gesture "of her admiration", the minister revealed today in a press conference.

Fenech today revealed he asked for a confrontation at the police headquarters with George Farrugia - who turned State's evidence on the allegations of kickbacks from Trafigura to an Enemalta consultant - over allegations made by Labour MPs that he had gifted the minister with a €5,000 artisanal clock upon assuming responsibility for Enemalta.

Fenech claimed he had once met Ray Farrugia at a social activity, who pointed out that his wife "admired me a lot and that she wished to gift me with this clock... the gift was made to me before I became responsible for Enemalta in 2010."

George Farrugia - according to Fenech's version - told the police he personally came over to the minister's house with his brother Raymond, but Fenech said he does not recall George Farrugia being at his house.

"The Commissioner of Police told me what had been recorded in the Farrugia deposition... it turns out Farrugia's sister-in-law is an amateur clockmaker who wanted to give me this token," Fenech said, confirming the gift but disputing the overstated value that Labour MP Evarist Bartolo tagged it at yesterday in a press conference.

"George Farrugia did not mention that this gift was €5,000. That's a lie. Bartolo and Chris Cardona lied," Fenech said. "It may have been worth hundreds perhaps..."

Fenech claimed he did not remember George Farrugia being at his house; but when asked how he could remember having recieved the gift before becoming minister for Enemalta, he said that he knows this because the meeting happened at his former residence at a Balzan apartment.

Fenech said he had now filed a police complaint for slander against Bartolo and Cardona, but that he would withdraw the complaint if the two MPs apologise for their statements. Fenech also denied having filed a police complaint against Farrugia, as incorrectly stated by the prime minister earlier in the day.

Intershore 'fraud'

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech today also accused fiduciary services company Intershore of being an accomplice in the alleged fraudulent activity carried out by Aikon Ltd, the trading company George Farrugia used over several years.

Intershore's directors include Labour financial controller and candidate Joe Cordina, and former PN candidate Martin Fenech.

Citing documents presented in a civil lawsuit instituted by Farrugia's brothers, Fenech said an IT audit into emails belonging to Farrugia, clearly implicated Intershore Fiduciary Services "as an accomplice to the fraudulent activity carried out by" Farrugia and his wife.

In 2010, George Farrugia was alleged of having siphoned off more than €6 million from his family's business Powerplan, according to a judicial protest filed by his brothers.

His brothers, of the John's Group of Companies, alleged that Farrugia had transferred revenues Powerplan made on the oil sales by Trafigura and Total, to his Aikon Ltd, which he owned. At the time however, Intershore served as the front for Aikon.

Their evidence included e-mails from George's wife, Katherine, in which it emerged that she would send payment instructions to the international traders through an unofficial Yahoo account.

Specifically, Fenech accused:

• Labour's financial controller Joe Cordina, who is a director-shareholder in Intershore, of being "criminally responsible" for Aikon's activities;
• Labour candidate David Farrugia Sacco - the lawyer for the Farrugia brothers - of having lied about the role of his own brother Steven Farrugia Sacco, an IT expert, in the IT audit that was carried out into the George Farrugia emails; SFS is said to have worked "in conjunction" with an independent IT expert appointed by Powerplan.
• Labour candidate Manuel Mallia of having lied about his role as a legal counsel in the IT audit carried out by the Farrugia brothers, in which he accuses Cordina's Intershore of being an accomplice in Aikon's fraudulent activity;
• That Intershore transferred ownership of Aikon back to George Farrugia in January 2011 at the time of the lawsuit instituted by Farrugia's brothers, of Powerplan.

The lawsuit was settled by the Farrugia brothers in an out-of-court settlement.

"Contrary to claims that Labour did not know of the connection between the party and the activities of Aikon, and that the story was published by the independent media, today we can clearly show that Labour's candidates were well aware of this case, and their involvement in it," Fenech said, adding on to his claims yesterday implicating Labour in the role of the publicisation of the Enemalta oil scandal.

"If there's a party implicated in this whole matter, it's Labour," Fenech said, pointing his finger at Joe Cordina, one of three director-shareholders of Intershore. Both Cordina and Fenech have denied the allegation.

Labour reaction

In a statement, Labour accused Tonio Fenech of "lying and contradicting himself".

"Two days ago Fenech said that anybody who accepted gifts from oil traders were part of the corruption at Enemalta. Yesterday Fenech said that he never received gifts from George Farrugia. Today he admitted that he did receive a gift from Farrugia: by his own reasoning, he is part of the corruption at Enemalta.

"Up until today morning, Fenech was saying that Farrugia never went to his house. Today, by his own declaration, Fenech declared that Farrugia did indeed go to his house. Fenech has lied, and cannot be credible."

Labour also accused Fenech of making mud-slinging allegations on the eve of the election. "We're not going to waste the public's time in ridiculous attacks. Labour is families and businesses and on a change in direction this country needs."