Second Enemalta official to leave with sensitive information after quitting corporation

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Former Enemalta chief financial officer Pippo Pandolfino was granted permission to take his work laptop after leaving the state utility in March 2009.

Pandolfino started working at Enemalta in 2004 under Tancred Tabone's chairmanship following a public call.

After leaving Enemalta, Pandolfino went to work with Island Bunker Oils Ltd, where today he serves as the company's chief executive officer.

As the company's CFO, Pandolfino sat on the fuel procurement committee and was an integral part of the decisions taken by Enemalta in procuring oil.

The famous scribbled minutes - which in reality were no minutes at all since it wasn't the fuel procurement committee's practice to take minutes - were confirmed to be Pandolfino's notes, along with the doodles.

Testifying before the Public Accounts Committee, Pandolfino admitted to taking his laptop containing sensitive information when he handed in his notice in 2009.

"I asked for permission to take it and this was granted by the then CEO Karl Camilleri. If I shouldn't have taken the laptop with me, then you should ask Camilleri about it," he told the PAC.

Pandolfino is the second official to confirm having sensitive information belonging to Enemalta in his possession. Camilleri had also taken his laptop along with "working documents" from his safe but was subsequently asked to return them.

During this evening's two-hour long testimony, Pandolfino said the PAC never used to take minutes. He had not found it strange because, while in April 2004 he was new to the committee, there were three other members who were already part of the board.

These three were then Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone, Tabone's oil consultant Frank Sammut and petroleum division manager Alfred Mallia.

All three are now facing charges on corruption and bribery in connection with tenders awarded by Enemalta in 2004 and 2005.

As revealed by MaltaToday, Pandolfino confirmed that the last time FPC minutes were taken was on 18 December 2003, also the first time that Enemalta started evaluating the bids.

Before, due to the bilateral agreements with Libya and Italy's Eni, Enemalta used to buy oil at preferential rates from these two and the role of the fuel procurement committee was to award shipping and carry out spot purchasing.

Pandolfino also disputed NAO's findings which referred to instances where a tender would have been awarded even though it wouldn't have been the cheapest bid. Going into a detailed technical explanation, Pandolfino told the PAC that any CFO would derive to his same conclusion.

However, the NAO pointed out that whereas Pandolfino had been part of the committee which awarded the tender, there was no paper trail [minutes, documentation] which explained the reasoning behind the choices made.

Pandolfino however insisted that the documents in the sealed envelopes would lead to the same conclusion.

Island Bunker Oils Ltd

Island Bunker Oils Ltd was set up in 2002 by Cassar Ship Repair chairman Anthony Cassar. Together with Virtu Ferries director Francis Portelli, the two owned 25% of IBOL while Tancred Tabone and Frank Sammut, joining in as silent partners, owned the rest of the 50%. Sammut was later bought out of the company after disagreements with the other directors and was paid $500,000 for his 25% share.

Before 2002, bunkering services were carried out by state-owned bunkering company Malta Oil Bunkering Corporation (MOBC).

Running parallel to the Enemalta oil procurement scandal, the police in March launched a money laundering investigation into the financial operations of IBOL.

During a March court sitting, Police assistant commissioner Michael Cassar testified that IBOL was set up specifically to "drain" business away from Enemalta's bunkering arm MOBC, of which Sammut was formerly the CEO.

A 2004 report by intelligence magazine Bunkerspot had already flagged Sammut's involvement as MOBC chief, reported to be planning to leave the company to become an independent consultant. The report had also alleged that IBOL might inherit "some or all of MOBC's business and could be favoured in the award of bunkering contracts".

In its analysis of the effectiveness of Enemalta's fuel procurement, the National Audit Office said the extension of a 2008 IBOL contract awarded by Enemalta raised questions.

In January 2008, IBOL was awarded a diesel barge transfer contract for a period of six months, with a further six-month option. The contract was subsequently extended for an additional 26 months. According to Enemalta, the decision to extend the contract was made due to the "imminent privatisation" of the barge transfer services.