State-owned fuel company ‘supplied fishermen with watered-down diesel’

Two fishermen have taken a state-owned fuel storage and bunkering company to court, claiming that it supplied them with watered-down diesel.

Joseph and Micheal Morino made the claim in a judicial protest they filed against Mediterranean Oil Bunkering Company Ltd, the Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries, the Director General for Fisheries and National Fisheries Cooperative Ltd.

The complainants said that, like other fishermen, they buy subsidised diesel from MOBC. They claimed that since last August, the MOBC has been supplying watered-down diesel, which has damaged their fishing trawler’s engines.

MOBC rejected their claims, prompting them to commission a private company to carry out an inspection. Inspectorate Malta Ltd, which is licensed by Bureau Veritas (a global leading company in testing, inspection and certification services), found that the diesel supplied by MOBC had been mixed with water.

The company’s laboratory test results were presented in court together with the protest.

The results indicated that there were 495 mg/kg of water in the fuel, when the maximum permissible amount was 200 mg/kg.

The fishermen are calling on MOBC to compensate them for the extensive damage in the boat’s engines and other works which need to be carried out, including the opening of the fuel tanks. They also want MOBC to compensate them for a loss of income, claiming that the bad fuel put their vessel out of action.

The protestors are also calling on MOBC to put an end to this abusive practice and to compensate all those who incurred damage as a result.

The protest was signed by lawyer Anna Mallia.