Gatt says he did not appoint Fuel Procurement Committee members

Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt said this evening he was never involved in the nomination of the members of the Fuel Procurement Committee and Frank Sammut - who allegedly received commissions for oil purchases - was a member well before Dr Gatt became minister. Reacting to a Labour press conference and media reports, Dr Gatt said in a statement that he was not the one who set up the committee since it was set up in the 1980s. During his time responsible for Enemalta, the members were not nominated by his ministry or chosen for political reasons. The committee was actually an internal committee of Enemalta. Frank Sammut was a member of the committee from the 1980s, well before Dr Gatt became minister. At the time Mr Sammut was also a director of Enemalta. Dr Gatt said the only change made by his ministry was that it broadened the committee in 2003 to include more technical expertise as well as representatives of the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance. The members were appointed by the Enemalta Board on the basis of their technical competence. The competence of the committee was purely technical and the ministry was therefore not involved. In 2004, Dr Gatt recalled, he...