Cathy Farrugia: 'I worked for my husband but never involved myself in business work'
Cathy Farrugia, wife of pardoned oil trader George Farrugia, scheduled to appear before the Public Accounts Committee this evening • Government stands by decision not to release Attorney General of his professional secrecy
11 March 2015, 7:01pm
Miriam Dalli
Miriam Dalli
1 min read
Cathy Farrugia (Photo: Ray Attard)
Cathy Farrugia, wife of pardoned oil trader George Farrugia, insisted that she never involved herself in the business dealings of her husband, limiting herself to “making coffee, filing papers and preparing invoices” as requested by her husband or anyone of the other directors at John’s Group.
Cathy, who confirmed working with former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi at Mizzi Group, said she could not recall all of the emails – published in the newspapers – she had sent to Gonzi.
She said, that she had mentioned her children with Gonzi because she had last seen him in 1995. ““Every mother is proud of her children … even when I communicate with my friends the first thing I mention are my children. And then he became popular,” she said.
Cathy worked for around seven years as a secretary at Mizzi Group and confirmed that her office had been situated on the legal department’s floor, where Gonzi worked. She said that she never worked for him, even when Gonzi was chairman of the board.
Telling the public accounts committee that she was a housewife who left work to take care of her family, she said that she joined her husband on a “voluntary basis” to help out for a few hours a week.
Cathy Farrugia said she never asked why her husband had requested to meet Gonzi, simply limiting herself to drafting and sending the email as George had requested. “He came home after work and asked me to draft an email and to send it to Dr Gonzi. I didn’t ask what it was about. When Gonzi replied, I forwarded the email to George,” she said.
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She categorically denied ever being politically involved, “simply exercising my right to vote”. Cathy also said that George, as far as she knew, never helped out political parties. “I only learnt of the donation given to Austin Gatt through the media. I absolutely did not know.”
At one point, she remembered that together with George, his brother Ray and Ray’s wife, they had gone to a dinner organised by a candidate – most probably Tonio Fenech’s, she said.
Cathy said that the only time she congratulated Gonzi on winning the election was that one time she asked for a meeting for her husband. “My husband came home and said I need to meet Dr Gonzi … how are we going to do it? At the time they were advertising an email to contact the prime minister and used that,” she said, adding that her husband never involved her in business work.
She says that she doesn’t remember anything that could have gone on at the time. “I didn’t see anything wrong with that. No I didn’t ask him. Not that I really didn’t ask him, but they had a lot going on,” she said, adding that she didn’t know whether he corresponded with other people.
“At home I was like a reception desk,” she said. Asked whether it was normal that the husband wanted to meet a prime minister and his wife – asked to send an email – did not ask why, Cathy said the business “always had some problem or another”. “I can’t really remember what was the issue at the time. I never interfered with their work. As a wife of one of the brothers, I wasn’t part of the brothers and never interfered in the business.”
She confirmed that she used to do invoicing work. “A lot of time passed,” she replied, when asked how come she didn’t know what work they involve themselves in given she was doing the invoices.
She said, that her husband used to work and travel a lot and going to the office was one way of helping him. She then stopped in 2010 and recently started working again with George.
Between 2006 and 2010, she worked at John’s Group, focusing more on helping George at PowerPlan. PowerPlan, together with another company belonging to John’s Group, was situated in Qormi. “I was a secretary with one of the directors [at Mizzi Group]. I never worked directly for Lawrence Gonzi. I was the secretary of one of the directors, from the same floor. Gonzi used to work at the legal department and for some time he was the board’s chairman. I spent around seven years working there,” she said.
“He was in charge of the legal department. But I had nothing to do with him. Everyone had his own office. And the building was big too.”
Cathy says she was still with Mizzi Group when he was appointed Speaker of the House. She says that, in Blata l-Bajda alone, there were around 150 workers and on her floor there were some 50 workers.
“I can assure you that when I assumed responsibility as parliamentary secretary I didn’t find a paper in that ministry … other than two people who came up to me asking what’s going to happen them.”
Azzopardi said it scared him to think that a prime minister, whoever he was, would have granted a pardon for any other reasons. He said, that the clarification was required because “people out there were spinning this, throwing mud and a person’s honour was at stake.”
Bonnici, reiterating that this was not a matter to be voted upon, said the government would not relieve the AG of his professional secrecy, insisting that there were several other ways how this could be cleared out – such as confronting John Rizzo and Lawrence Gonzi.
Fenech Adami said that the lawyer shouldn’t be forced to testify, but the client could give the permission. “I am appealing to you, Dr Bonnici, to give him the permission,” the PN deputy leader said. Bonnici repeated that this would set a precedent.
Fenech Adami said no one better than the AG could shed light on how the presidential pardon was granted. “The biggest question out there is whether the pardon was granted because Gonzi knew Cathy Farrugia. People are suspecting that the pardon was granted for sinister reasons and we endured long hours during which Gonzi was saying another thing.
“The AG could tell us whether the presidential pardon was drafted by himself and whether he gave his advice. I trust the AG. But you have to allow him to say it. Why don’t we kill this intentional speculation once and for all, after mud was thrown at him simply because he worked with her. Let us clear it.”
Fenech Adami reiterated that what was “falsely depicted” could be confirmed or denied by the AG. “This is a one chance to have the facts.”
Bonnici said that it was former police commissioner John Rizzo who said he heard it from Gonzi. He went on to question how it was going to be the government’s lawyer who would solve this question.
The issue being raised by the government MPs is whether the Attorney General answering to questions was in breach of professional secrecy. Fenech Adami said no one was asking the AG to reveal what was the advice he gave, but to clarify whether Gonzi had based his decision on his advice.
There are two rulings by the Speaker that the AG cannot testify until the government – as his client – releases him of the professional secrecy he was bound by.
“It is clear that, until I am freed of my professional secrecy, I cannot answer any questions,” Grech said.
Azzopardi is questioning the Attorney General on whether he thought that everything he said was bound by professional secrecy. The AG explained that any relationship between a lawyer and his client was bound by professional secrecy.
Fenech Adami said the committee spent hours asking about the familiarity between Gonzi and Cathy Farrugia: "I have no problem with these questions but we have to clear the air after insinuations levelled against Gonzi. We have the opportunity to clear this situation. Gonzi is saying that he acted on AG's advice; a second theory is that Gonzi acted how he acted because of a million reasons."
She is accompanied by her husband, George, and lawyer Siegfried Borg Cole.
The committee will start as soon as all the MPs sitting on the committee are present.