On both boxes with/without the problem /usr/lib/liboctave.so
or /usr/lib/libcruft.so does not exist.
They are not found in liboctinterp.so or liboctinterp.so.3.0.1 either:
/usr/lib/octave-3.0.1/liboctinterp.so:
linux-gate.so.1 => (0xffffe000)
liboctave.so => not found
libcruft.so => not found
...
/usr/lib/octave-3.0.1/liboctinterp.so.3.0.1:
linux-gate.so.1 => (0xffffe000)
liboctave.so => not found
libcruft.so => not found
...