Public accounts committee grills John Rizzo • live-blog

Keep following the PAC's hearings on the Auditor General's fuel procurement audit here on MaltaToday

19 November 2014, 7:06pm
by Miriam Dalli

1 min read

Former Police Commissioner John Rizzo before the PAC

Welcome to MaltaToday's live blog of the PAC hearing into the Auditor General's audit of Enemalta's fuel procurement policy

20:49 Sitting adjourned to next week, with the witnesses expected to be Assistant Commissioner Michael Cassar and Superintendent Paul Vassallo.

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20:47 Sitting with John Rizzo ends here.

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20:45 Jason Azzopardi asks Rizzo whether he could explain why no persons were arraigned following the general election. Rizzo says he was not in a position to reply. He however adds that the prosecuting officer, during a court sitting in one of the cases, “gave me the impression that investigations were ongoing”.

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20:41 In reply to Luciano Busuttil, Rizzo confirms once again that the presidential pardon first came from Lawrence Gonzi.

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20:38 Rizzo says the subordinates, the inspectors, could have easily given the handover on the case.

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20:34 Beppe Fenech Adami asks Rizzo to recount how he was removed from the Police Force. “I was informed by the Prime Minister that I would be removed. Subsequently, I had a meeting with the OPM’s chief of staff Keith Schembri, where he informed me of the transfers. Schembri, that day, told me that the transfers were to be issued in the afternoon. Peter Paul Zammit then came into my office and I wanted to provide him with certain information.”

The handover took place while Rizzo was clearing out his things from his old office, to make way for his then successor, Peter Paul Zammit.

Rizzo confirms that he never gave Zammit a handover on the oil procurement scandal. The handover he gave was about the files he had in the office.

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20:26 Time for questions by the Opposition MPs

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20:21 Asked whether there he came to know new information that came out during libel proceedings, Rizzo says that he remembers testifying to a libel suit instituted by Tonio Fenech.

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20:16 Asked whether he was aware of any contact made between George Farrugia and Frank Sammut during the course of the investigation, Rizzo said he couldn’t say.

“No, I don’t remember if we ever discovered such a thing…and I am not excluding it.”

Rizzo adds that he never investigated coded emails sent by George Farrugia, including those referring “to the big one” and “the dragon and the diamond”.

He reiterates that the police had enough evidence to prosecute against Frank Sammut but not against the rest. Miriam Dalli

20:12 Rizzo confirms that the presidential pardon was drafted by the police and office of the Attorney General while the Office of the Prime Minister approved it. The OPM, he said, had carried out several amendments “to make the presidential pardon more harsh”.

Rizzo repeats that work commitments in the run up to the general election forced him away from the investigation. “One has to prioritise and I had a lot of commitments of national importance. We always have sensitive case, and for me, any case is sensitive. A Police Commissioner can’t involve himself in every case. We had several other cases to investigate.

“We always worked correctly and at the best of our capabilities. My presence was requested in several commitment of national importance…I can’t split myself in two.” Miriam Dalli

19:53 Rizzo says that other police work had hindered him from being more involved in this investigation. “No, unfortunately it was close to the election and I had a lot of other work to do, with back-to-back meetings. The work I had didn’t allow me to involve myself more in the investigation.”

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19:49 Rizzo was physically present for a number of interrogations, starting off with the first one after the presidential pardon was granted. He was then present for parts of interrogations with a number of suspects.

“Basically Farrugia told us that he used to pay money to win tenders to supply Enemalta with oil, to win storage tenders when MOBC was in operation, that he used to give gifts to and so forth. He mentioned several people, which we arraigned. Farrugia mentioned others to whom he had given gifts.”

Zammit Lewis pushes the questions whether he remembered any “particular names” which were mentioned by Farrugia. Rizzo said two of those mentioned were Tonio Fenech and Austin Gatt and that Farrugia used to say that four of his brothers knew about what he used to do. Miriam Dalli

19:39 Rizzo tells Zammit Lewis that, at the very beginning, he was not consulted on the presidential pardon. He came to know about the presidential pardon through his investigating team, prompting him to contact Gonzi. “Investigating officers Michael Cassar and Angelo Gafa told me about the presidential pardon,” he reiterated.

Rizzo confirms that Gonzi asked him whether a presidential pardon would be necessary. The presidential pardon was then drafted in consultation with Rizzo and the AG. A Cabinet meeting was held on Saturday night. Miriam Dalli

19:34 In reply to a question by Justyne Caruana, Rizzo says that he felt that Farrugia was honouring the conditions of the presidential pardon. He says, that the presidential pardon was necessary for the investigations.

The pardon was granted on the condition that Farrugia discloses the whole truth. The pardon applied only to crimes related to allegations made on oil procurement before the pardon was issued. It warned that if Farrugia failed to disclose the whole truth or if he failed to pass on all profits made from the crime, the presidential pardon would be automatically withdrawn as if it were never granted. Miriam Dalli

19:26 Franco Debono, Rizzo says, was Farrugia’s lawyer concentrating on the criminal side of the case. He says that the police had no proof against Farrugia and reiterated that the first time he heard about the presidential pardon was when, then Inspector Angelo Gafa, called him about it and informed him of what he heard.

Two weeks ago, Gafa told the PAC he had first heard of the presidential pardon through the media. According to Rizzo, Gafa told him that Debono had contacted him, asking whether Farrugia would be granted a presidential pardon. Miriam Dalli

19:22 Rizzo says he spoke to George Farrugia’s lawyer, Franco Debono, after Farrugia came to know that there was a possibility he could be offered a presidential pardon. “I wasn’t involved when it was decided in the first instance that he could be given a presidential pardon. I called Edgar Galea Curmi, then head of secretariat within the Office of the Prime Minister, to let him know what I have heard. “Lawrence Gonzi then contacted me and asked me how the investigations were proceeding. He asked me what Farrugia knew, but at that stage we didn’t know. The investigative team however suggested that Farrugia could be of help.”

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19:16 John Rizzo, today head of the Civil Protection Department, served as Police Commissioner up to May 2013. Minister Edward Zammit Lewis takes the floor and asks Rizzo how the investigations into the oil procurement scandal started.<

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Former police commissioner John Rizzo told the parliamentary public accounts committee that, due "to commitments of national interest" and the run up to the general elections of 2013, his involvement in the oil scandal investigation was limited.

He confirmed, that he participated in the interview with pardoned oil trader George Farrugia when he was granted the presidential pardon and that he had partly set in interrogations with a number of suspects.

He also said that he had first learned of the presidential pardon after his investigative team contacted him. Rizzo subsequently contacted Edgar Galea Curmi, then head of secretariat within the Office of the Prime Minister, to get in contact with former PM Lawrence Gonzi.

Rizzo reiterated that the presidential pardon granted to Farrugia was necessary in order for the police to obtain information and subsequently arraign a number of persons.

According to Rizzo, Farrugia had honored the conditions on which the presidential pardon was awarded.

It was also revealed that he had not personally given a handover on the case to Peter Paul Zammit.

Miriam Dalli joined MaltaToday.com.mt in 2010 becoming assistant editor f...