Labour | Austin Gatt should be called in for police questioning over fuel commissions

Corrected erroneous reference to Austin Gatt as having set up fuel procurement advisory committee.

Labour MP Evarist Bartolo and candidate Manuel Mallia have called on the police to question transport minister Austin Gatt over the role of Frank Sammut, the former chief executive of the MOBC, during his time at the oil procurement board.

Sammut, suspected of having received commissions from commodities group Trafigura for the sale of low sulphur oil to state utility Enemalta, has not yet been questioned by police.

Enemalta Corporation and the Mediterranean Oil Bunkering Corporation are cooperating with the police in an investigation related to the alleged commissions paid to Francis Sammut for the purchase of fuel consignments to Enemalta.

FULL STORY | Kickbacks paid for Enemalta oil purchases to procurement official

The finance ministry today said that Sammut's employment was terminated in July 2004 after a Cabinet decision for the MOBC to cease bunkering operations and instead assume the role of an oil storage depot. In his letter to Sammut, then MOBC chairman Tancred Tabone informed Sammut that his contract had been terminated.

In comments to the Times on Sunday, transport minister Austin Gatt said "nobody ever came to [him] to say there was a suspicion that somebody could be pocketing money in the procurement board of Enemalta."

The story, revealed by MaltaToday, concerns an invoice payable to a Gibraltar firm of which Sammut was its ultimate beneficiary, for a $4.3 million consignment of fuel to Enemalta. The $19,400 commission was paid in March 2004 into an HSBC account in Lugano, Switzerland.

The ministry has so far not yet confirmed the golden handshake that Sammut was paid in 2004.

He had been first appointed as MOBC's managing director in 1997. Although he was not an employee of Enemalta, Sammut occupied a position on the Enemalta board of directors until 1990, and a consultant to the energy corporation until 1994.

MaltaToday's managing editor Saviour Balzan told breakfast TV show TVAM today that the story was just the tip of the iceberg, and revealed further details pertaining to Trafigura sales to Enemalta.

Balzan, who has passed all the relevant documentation to the police, said a contract between Enemalta and Trafigura had just been finalized for the sale of fuel oil, up until March and at a premium of $37 over the Platts price.

"To me it is a strange occurrence that such a deal is in place for a long period of time. So far, I have given the police all the documentation necessary, and more importantly I explained the background to the case, including the information I was sure of but had no documentation. This is one of the first times that proof of corruption has been supported by documentation. I'm sure it's just the tip of the iceberg."

MaltaToday is also informed that a senior Nationalist politician had been personally warned about Francis Sammut, although the MOBC chief was still appointed to a procurement committee that advised Enemalta on its fuel purchases.

Labour MP Evarist Bartolo today said the Nationalist government had the opportunity to switch energy generation to gas on a number of occasions, however it always stuck to oil. "If we look back, the country missed several chances to choose gas over oil," Bartolo said, in an explanation of government's decicion to purchase a diesel-powered energy plant in 2006.

Bartolo said Enemalta's plans for gas were aborted in 2007 after the corporation opted for heavy fuel oil to fire the new Delimara power station extension. "Why did this U-turn happen? Why did the Nationalist administration change the legal notice, change its policy and the tender specifications?" Bartolo asked.