Audit office in damning report on Enemalta fuel procurement, hedging between 2008 and 2010

The Auditor General today published a damning report on Enemalta's fuel procurement practices and hedging between 2008 and 2010, raising serious questions about lack of record keeping, lack of proper testing for inferior quality fuel,  inexplicable decisions and lack of proper records on who took the decisions. The auditor said said his office's primary concern centred on the fact that no policy framework was in place during the period 2008 up to end 2010. The minutes of meetings of the Fuel Procurement Committee at the time  lacked the most rudimentary level of detail and bore no information relating to meeting discussions and decisions. Poor record-keeping and documentation characterised the operations of the FPC prior to May 2011, rendering it  impossible for the Nation Audit Office (NAO) to effectively audit the decision-making process. However there were instances when the Committee awarded tenders to bidders who (based on severely limited information at the NAO’s disposal) did not submit the most favourable offer. "Although NAO has no major concerns relating to the reconciliation of fuel procured in terms of quantity, quality-related concerns have emerged," it said. There...