Wife of pardoned oil trader did not ask husband why he wanted to meet Lawrence Gonzi, and why former PM refused
Cathy Farrugia, the wife of pardoned oil trader George Farrugia, yesterday said she had not asked her husband why he wanted to meet with former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.
She also insisted that, although she worked in the same offices as Dr Gonzi at the Mizzi Group, she hardly knew him and they did not speak to each other at work.
Mrs Farrugia was giving evidence before the Public Accounts Committee.
Replying to questions by Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, Mrs Farrugia said she has been a housewife since 1995 but used to help her husband out with Power Plan and Aikon Ltd work. She mostly worked as a secretary, filing paperwork and brewing coffee but was also involved in invoicing work, although she did not know what the invoices were for.
Mr Farrugia said she used to work in the same building as Lawrence Gonzi at the Mizzi Group but she worked for a company director, not for the former PM. Dr Gonzi used to work in the group’s legal department, with which she had no connection. They worked for different companies falling under the same group.
Dr Bonnici asked her if she used to meet Dr Gonzi at staff meetings and such, to which she replied: “Not really.” There were around 150 employees working at the Blata l-Bajda offices, with around 50 workers on her floor. Dr Gonzi worked in a different office on the same floor.
She says, however, that they did not meet or speak.
Mrs Farrugia said she did not really remember sending Lawrence Gonzi some of the emails published in the newspapers, apart from one in which she congratulated him on the PN’s 2008 electoral victory and another in which she had asked the former PM to meet her husband.
The Justice Minister asked why she had sent Dr Gonzi an email requesting a meeting with her husband when she said earlier that she was not involved in the running of the company. Mrs Farrugia said that, at the time there was a scheme allowing people to get in touch with the Prime Minister and her husband told her to send an email because he needed to speak to him. She assumed that it was work-related and did not ask the reason why. They wrote the email together.
She reiterated that she was not involved in the running of the companies. “I am not one of the brothers and I could not interfere in com- pany issues.”
Mrs Farrugia said Dr Gonzi had replied to the meeting request and asked what the subject was. She sent Dr Gonzi’s reply to her husband, who continued to follow it himself. She confirmed that Dr Gonzi refused to meet with her husband when he found out what the subject was but said she never asked her husband why the former PM had turned down the request.
Asked why she had mentioned her children in the same email, Mrs Farrugia says every mother is proud of her children and it is a natural thing to mention them when talking to someone.
Mrs Farrugia said she was never into politics and denied being personally involved in political campaigns. Her husband was also not involved with politicians. She says she only found out about her husband’s donations to Austin Gatt through the media a few days ago.
She once attended a political event, a dinner at some hotel, along with her husband, his brother Raymond and his wife. “I am not sure whose event it was. It could have been Tonio Fenech’s but I am not sure.”
Owen Bonnici reminded her that he had once attended an event organised by Austin Gatt but Mrs Farrugia said her husband used to have many engagements and she did not know about all of them.
She did not know if Trafigura had paid for his trip to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup and had never heard of a Mr Ahmed. Mrs Farrugia says she only accompanied her husband to dinners with oil company agents if their wives came over with them.
At the start of the sitting, the government members objected to letting Attorney General Peter Grech testify before the committee because of his professional secret. Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said the government was being consistent and was taking the same position it took in the Parliamentary Privileges Committee.
Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said this would set an ugly precedent. The government’s relationship with its lawyer should always be bound by professional secrecy, he said.
Dr Peter Grech said there are two rulings that say that he has to be released from professional secrecy by the government in order to be able to testify.
PN Deputy Leader Beppe Fenech Adami argued that Dr Grech could confirm information given by Lawrence Gonzi, who said that he was not alone in taking the decision to grant the pardon. He had said, in fact, that the AG had recommended granting the pardon. He said the Opposition members would only ask simple questions, without going into the details of the advice he had given, such as if he had been involved in the process. There is a theory that Dr Gonzi granted the pardon because of his alleged familiarity with Cathy Farrugia and the AG could help dispel it, if this is not the truth.
The committee has an opportunity to close this chapter once and for all, so why is the government against letting the AG speak?
Dr Bonnici said it was not up to the Attorney General to go into such matters and warned about the consequences of allowing AGs to disclose details of their meetings with Prime Ministers.
Mrs Farrugia is expected to continue testifying after the Easter recess.