There’s a tiger in his tank: Leo Brincat and his people spend €369,520 on petrol and diesel since March 2013

Published: July 7, 2015 at 1:12pm

Leo Brincat

Opposition MP Marthese Portelli put a question in parliament to the Environment Minister (that’s Leo Brincat aka Herr Flick) which brought forward the following fascinating information.

1. Government departments controlled by the Environment Ministry have spent €21,300 in the first six months of this year buying petrol and diesel from Joe Gaffarena’s illegal petrol station in Qormi.

2. In all, they have spent €71,200 on fuel in the first six months of this year.

3. Last year, they spent €26,134 buying fuel from Gaffarena’s illegal petrol station. This year, they spent almost that much in the first six months alone.

4. The Environment Minister’s response pointedly notes that the fuel purchases made from Gaffarena’s illegal petrol station were by departments for which his parliamentary secretary, Roderick (pronounced Rott-Rick) Agius is responsible, and not those for which he is responsible Somebody needs to tell him that he is responsible for them all, including for Rott-Rick himself as his boss.

5. Other than Gaffarena’s illegal petrol station, the favourites with Leo Brincat’s fiefdom so far this year are: J.Micallef Service Station (€13,646), Carlo Cini Ltd (€8,309), Carmelo Saliba Service Station (€7,401), and St. Joseph Petrol Station (€6,746).

6. In 2013, the Environment Ministry bought all its fuel from MSD Kordin Fuel Station, spending a total of €133,112. Last year, they spent only €324 there, and just €90 this year. No sweetener, or what?

7. Leo Brincat’s Ministry has spent €369,520 on petrol and diesel since March 2013.

Now this piece of information did not come from that parliamentary question, but is highly relevant. In 2011, when Joe Gaffarena’s son Johann applied to the MEPA to have the illegal petrol station legitimised, Roderick Galdes was the (Labour) Opposition’s representative on the MEPA board, and the only one who argued in favour of Gaffarena’s case.

It’s also worth noting that Johann Gaffarena’s lawyer, representing his interests in the case for that illegal petrol station, was George Hyzler working alongside Ian Refalo. George Hyzler’s wife, Gianella Demarco, is one of the defence lawyers for Stephen Caruana, who is married to Johann Gaffarena’s sister and who murdered her lover in December 2008 – the case in which corrupt Police Inspector Daniel Zammit was the investigator and supposed prosecutor until this year, with no sign of a bill of indictment.