Minister to ask PAC to investigate €5 million settlement with Shell

Transport Minister Joe Mizzi will ask the Public Accounts Committee to investigate a tax-free €5 million out-of-court settlement that former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s Cabinet had granted to oil giant Shell in January 2013.

Speaking in his parliamentary adjournment, Mizzi pointed out that Shell had filed a complaint to the Malta Resources Authority in 2004 through the offices of Opposition leader Simon Busuttil, back then a Nationalist MEP. Mocking Busuttil as “someone who pretends to be a virgin”, Mizzi said that he had been raised to PN deputy leader by the time the Cabinet decided to grant the settlement.

Shell had complained in 2004 that aviation fuel was supplied by Enemalta, which also owned the storage facilities of oil.

Following the liberalisation of the fuel market, Shell attempted to distribute fuel but claimed that Enemalta had prevented it from doing this through "uncompetitive measures".

That year, Busuttil wrote to the Malta Resources Authority informing them: "Enemalta and the Maltese government are bound by law to ensure that the management of these infrastructures is transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and, in particular, that it does hinder the access of suppliers of ground handling services."

The European Commission issued a warning to the Nationalist administration in 2011 that it was "not ensuring independent verification of the separation" of fuel handling and storage facilities, while Enemalta - one of the suppliers of fuel handling services - was the manager of the storage and fuel supply facilities.

Mizzi noted that the out-of-court settlement was granted only a few days after MaltaToday published documents that showed that commodities trader Trafigura had paid commissions to Enemalta consultant Frank Sammut for the supply of oil to the national corporation.

In his adjournment, Mizzi also flagged a “conflict of interest” by his counterpart on the Opposition benches, shadow transport minister Marthese Portelli.

Mizzi argued that Portelli sits on the board of directors of Alta Consultancy, a financial consultancy company, along with Transport Malta’s Chief Financial Officer Albert Debono and “somebody who win several tenders from Transport Malta”.