Fenech: oil trader never said he gave €5,000 gift

Rogue oil trader George Farrugia never told police he gave a gift to Tonio Fenech, “let alone one costing more than €5,000”, the Finance Minister said yesterday. Mr Fenech addressed a press conference lasting almost two hours at PN headquarters, in Pietà where he laid into Labour, accusing its exponents, particularly candidates David Farrugia Sacco and Manuel Mallia, of “repeated lies”. He produced documents he said showed the firm run by Labour’s now financial administrator, Joe Cordina, who quit on Thursday, was “an accomplice to fraud”. Mr Fenech admitted for the first time he had met Mr Farrugia at his ministry over a complaint regarding a tender he was not awarded. He said Mr Farrugia joined his brother, Ray, at his Balzan flat before he became minister responsible for Enemalta (in February 2010), to give him a Maltese traditional clock handmade by Ray Farrugia’s wife. Mr Fenech said she wished to give him the clock, which only had sentimental value, as “she admired me”, insisting this did not violate the ministers’ ethical code . He said he did not “recall” either encounter with Mr Farrugia, who is at the centre of the Enemalta oil corruption scandal, but was rem-inded of...