Former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has challenged the Public Accounts Committee to look into the "strange coincidence" of how George Farrugia's brothers - who were clients of Manuel Mallia - are only being arraigned now that the former minister is out of the picture.
In comments to this newspaper, Dr Gonzi stopped short of accusing Manuel Mallia of blocking the police from taking action against his former clients but said the facts speak for themselves and they should be investigated.
The former Prime Minister was asked to elaborate on a particular comment he made on Friday during his second grilling before the Public Accounts Committee, which went largely unnoticed by the media.
Having become frustrated by the line of questioning adopted by the government members of the PAC, who bombarded him with questions about his relationship with George Farrugia and his wife Cathy, Dr Gonzi said he was not a lawyer to anyone from the Farrugia family, in direct reference to Manuel Mallia, who was a lawyer for George Farrugia's brothers.
He suggested that if the committee really wanted to examine insinuations of familiarity, it should also look into why no action was taken against George Farrugia's brothers during Manuel Mallia's tenure, despite the clear intentions of the investigating officers.
"This committee should investigate everything, including all the strange happenings. Assistant Commissioner Michael Cassar told this same committee a few weeks ago that he intended to arraign the Farrugia brothers. He had taken that decision and had informed his superiors, but Michael Cassar was taken off the investigation on 12 April 2013, the same day on which John Rizzo was forced to resign as Police Commissioner. He was replaced by Peter Paul Zammit. On 10 July, another investigating officer, Angelo Gafa, was also transferred out of the secret service, away from the case. Peter Paul Zammit was replaced by Ray Zammit on 3 July 2014. On 9 December, Manuel Mallia was dismissed and three days later Michael Cassar was appointed Police Commissioner. He gave an interview on the same day and announced that charges would be levelled against the Farrugia brothers. I do not like these coincidences at all and I think that this committee should investigate them."
When asked by The Malta Independent on Sunday yesterday if he was insinuating that Manuel Mallia had stopped the police from taking action against his former clients, Dr Gonzi said he had only stated the facts. "No action was taken until Manuel Mallia was removed. These coincidences speak for themselves and should be investigated. I am only stating the facts. Someone has to give a clear explanation if we really want to take things seriously in this country."
The former Prime Minister has admitted to knowing Cathy Farrugia and to meeting her husband on a couple of occasions but is denying that there was any familiarity between them. On Friday, he tabled two emails sent to him by Mrs Farrugia as well as his replies to her. In the first email she had congratulated him on the PN's 2008 election victory. In the second she had asked him to arrange a meeting between him and her husband. Dr Gonzi had asked her what the meeting was about and she replied that it was about the privatisation process of Enemalta's petroleum division, for which her husband's company, Power Plan, was a bidder. She also claimed that things were "not as straight as they ought to be."
The former Prime Minister also tabled the email he had sent in reply, in which he told her that, out of principle, he would not meet with a tenderer. He had also advised her to go to the police if she had any information about irregularities. Nothing has resulted from the subsequent police investigation.
However, instead of accepting his clear refusal for a meeting as an end to the matter, the government MPs insisted on asking several trivial questions about the wording used by Mrs Farrugia in her emails. Their main point of contempt was the fact that she had started her email with words to the effect of "we have not met in a long time" and "we are enjoying the summer now that the children are off school". Parliamentary Secretary Justyne Farrugia even asked if it was normal for the two to address each other in their emails only by their first name, while Minister Edward Zammit Lewis asked if he saw anything strange in the fact that Mrs Farrugia had made the request for a meeting on behalf of her husband.
Dr Gonzi, visibly irritated by the questions being put to him, explained that he knew Mrs Farrugia from the time they had both worked with the Mizzi group but insisted that they were not on familiar terms. He said all politicians receive emails from people who use a level of confidence that is not reciprocated.
He also argued that the important thing was that he had refused to meet with George Farrugia on anything related to the oil sector.
"Let us not beat around the bush. They were insinuating that the pardon was granted to George Farrugia because they claim that I was on familiar terms with him," said Dr Gonzi. The former Prime Minister said these insinuations were "insolent" because his email reply to Cathy Farrugia made it abundantly clear that he refused to meet her husband to discuss the subject of oil.
Dr Gonzi also said that it was scandalous that only one of the emails sent to him by Cathy Farrugia was published while his reply (with the refusal to meet) was not. When asked if he was referring to a particular newspaper, Dr Gonzi said his comment was directed to "anyone who is in some way trying to manipulate the situation".