Whistleblower passed on Trafigura oil bribe invoice

A crucial piece of evidence that MaltaToday published to expose the bribery in Enemalta's procurement of oil, was not among a stash of court documents in a multi-million euro compensation case filed against oil trader George Farrugia by his brothers.

The specific invoice - a $19,042 'consultancy fee' that Dutch commodities giant Trafigura had paid in 2004 into a Swiss bank account - was given to MaltaToday by the whistleblower on the Enemalta fuel procurement scandal.

That company, established in Gibraltar, was Energy & Environment Consultants Ltd, whose beneficiary was Frank Sammut, at the time a consultant to Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone. The invoice's publication led to the arrest of Tabone, Sammut, and more importantly George Farrugia - the Trafigura agent who turned state's evidence in return for a presidential pardon.

But Farrugia is now claiming that the system of bribes devised by him and Sammut was known to Manuel Mallia, the Home Affairs Minister, when in 2010 he was appointed as a lawyer by family business Powerplan to seek a resolution from Farrugia, then accused by his brothers of siphoning €40 million in oil commissions from the family business.

Mallia has denied any knowledge of the bribes, but Farrugia claims that during meetings with him he was threatened that he would be reported to the police unless he reaches a settlement.

MaltaToday managing editor Saviour Balzan, who received the evidence of the bribe, has stated that Farrugia's comments to the PAC are leading the Opposition to surmise a political connection when MaltaToday broke the story.

"In 'Saying it as it is', I write that the source of the oil scandal story had no political connection. I reiterate that the source is the most unlikely of sources, and in February, during the general elections, I confronted minister Austin Gatt during a press conference and denied that the Labour Party had passed on any documents to MaltaToday. Nobody should be obfuscating about this story. The source is unconnected to politics."

At that time, it was not known that George Farrugia had donated €2,000 to Austin Gatt during the 2008 election campaign.

In February 2013 - days after MaltaToday broke the Enemalta scandal in the middle of the general elections - Mallia confirmed in a press conference that Powerplan had appointed him as a lawyer in 2010 to seek a settlement from George Farrugia on allegations of misappropriation of monies. At the time he had categorically denied any knowledge of the oil bribes.

Farrugia, who is currently testifying in the parliament's public accounts committee, claims that Mallia was privy to all the details of the case. On his part, PAC member and Nationalist MP Beppe Fenech Adami has insisted that Farrugia explains what Mallia knew, in a bid to establish a timeline as to how the media broke the story.

The PN is now claiming Mallia was aware of the bribery being paid to Enemalta officials, and that he is using the cloak of professional secrecy to cover a sin of omission or worse, that he is a political link to the story when it broke.

But the crucial piece of evidence that MaltaToday published in January so far cannot be traced to a public cache of documents deposited in court by a Powerplan lawyer in late 2011 - after Mallia had resigned the case.

Invoices deposited in court by David Farrugia Sacco, on behalf of the Farrugias and after Mallia resigned ownership of the case in 2011, showed that Farrugia was secretly siphoning oil commissions from Powerplan, into his personal company Aikon Ltd.

But MaltaToday has confirmed, inquiring with both Farrugia Sacco and a member of the Farrugia family business, that the Trafigura invoice to Energy & Environment Consultants Ltd was not amongst the cache of invoices they deposited in court when they sued Farrugia for damages.

Yesterday, Farrugia Sacco told MaltaToday that the Trafigura 'bribe invoice' was not amongst the Aikon-Powerplan invoices he deposited in court, which case was strictly connected to accusations of misappropriation of funds from Powerplan. The civil case did not even make any reference to bribery or trading in influence, but to the misappropriation of funds and double invoicing by George Farrugia.

Appointment of Mallia

Manuel Mallia had been approached by Chris Farrugia, a nephew of George Farrugia, in 2010 to intervene as a lawyer and seek a resolution with Farrugia when his brothers suspected that he had been siphoning oil commissions payable to family business Powerplan.

Mallia had specifically requested that Tony Debono obtain a company resolution authorising him to act on behalf of Powerplan. Debono was then a chairman to the executive board of Powerplan, appointed to chair the meetings of Powerplan's directors.

George Farrugia and his wife Kathy Ann were subsequently called upon by Mallia to liquidate the monies diverted from Powerplan, failing which he would take criminal action. Farrugia's lawyer, Siegfried Borg Cole, replied and a meeting was held with the aim of liquidating the misappropriated funds. The meeting was held in the presence of auditor Edward Camilleri, George Farrugia and Borg Cole, Tony Debono, Chris Farrugia and Manuel Mallia.

It was decided that George Farrugia would pass all papers relevant to the case to the auditor.

After this meeting, Mallia's legal services were no longer used by the company. Farrugia did not settle with his brothers, which then led to a court case filed by David Farrugia Sacco and the deposit of various Aikon invoices that could have been sourced from George Farrugia's computer. The same invoices were available to the press when MaltaToday broke its story.

A far cry from the €40 million that the Farrugia brothers were demanding, George Farrugia finally settled with Powerplan for €1.1 million. On his part, Tony Debono was no longer associated with Powerplan as chairman after this episode.

Trafigura invoice

The invoices, republished by MaltaToday, show how petrochemist Frank Sammut was receiving a $0.75c cut from the sale of fuel to Enemalta, from Trafigura, while serving as a consultant to the national energy corporation.

The template for the Energy & Environment Consultants Ltd is identical to the template used for Aikon Ltd, the company administered by George Farrugia as his personal vehicle to conduct business with Trafigura and TOTSA.

Aikon Ltd had been registered as a nominee company, with Farrugia's beneficiary status hidden from company records. At the same time, Farrugia was managing family business Powerplan for the importation of fuel from Trafigura and TOTSA. When he was accused of siphoning commissions payable to Powerplan, to his company Aikon Ltd, the audit firm that managed his nominee company resigned from their name-lending service.