In an exclusive interview that is published today in The Malta Independent on Sunday, pardoned oil trader George Farrugia reveals how he still would have got his pardon irrespective of the fact that his wife Kathy knew former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

Since the oil procurement scandal was leaked to MaltaToday on the eve of the 2013 election, George Farrugia refused to give comments to the media until now. He accepted to be interviewed exclusively by The Malta Independent.

“Yes, my wife knew Lawrence Gonzi but I assure you that they were not on familiar terms. They were work colleagues before Dr Gonzi became Prime Minister and Leader of the PN. The police needed to give me the pardon. I would have still gotten the pardon if my wife did not know Dr Gonzi. That had nothing do with it.”

Mr Farrugia also insists he has not breached his pardon conditions because recently published correspondence has nothing to do with oil procurement – the subject the pardon is limited to. He also says the pardon is not time barred, meaning that he did not have a specific time window in which to divulge all the information.

In the exclusive interview, George Farrugia also claims that there are people who are interested in seeing the pardon revoked because that would almost certainly mean that his brothers would walk free. In fact, the case against them could possibly not even start.

He also explains why he thinks he was the best candidate for the pardon and how, as a result of it, he helped the police arraign seven people who were deeply involved in the oil procurement scandal. The police, he says, needed him to accept the pardon.

He also asks why Labour is out to get him when the only person uncovered to have given gifts to politicians was his brother Ray. Raymond Farrugia had given former Finance Minister Tonio Fenech the infamous Arlogg tal-Lira. “Why are they not chasing him? Why is it as if he has disappeared?”

In the full interview to be published exclusively in The Malta Independent on Sunday George Farrugia reveals in detail the consequences if his pardon is revoked.