Another five Enemalta employees were suspended from work yesterday, suspected of being involved in a racket of electricity theft through smart meters, raising the number to eight.
Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi announced the new suspensions in a statement in Parliament yesterday evening, saying there may be more to come as “many new facts are emerging as the investigation carries on”.
The first three employees were suspended on Monday. Yesterday’s five suspensions followed continuing investigations being carried out by both Enemalta and the police.
Nationalist MP George Pullicino asked the minister to explain why the alleged “mastermind” behind this organised scam, whom he named as Louis Attard, had not been suspended from work on Monday, adding that this person was “close” to the ministry.
Dr Mizzi replied that Mr Attard was one of the five employees suspended yesterday.
He said Mr Attard was not a meter installer, like the rest of the suspended employees, but worked in the corporation’s finance division.
The minister did not give an answer as to whether Mr Attard was close to his ministry but his spokesman later denied any link to Mr Attard, saying “his work at Enemalta is based on duties assigned to him by the corporation”.
In his statement, Mr Mizzi indicated there was more to be revealed about the racket, which was discovered following an internal investigation by Enemalta last year.
Criticising the previous administration for “not acting over the theft of electricity”, Mr Mizzi said that so far more than a thousand smart meters were suspected of having been tampered with but investigations might reveal an even wider operation.
Whoever profited must pay for their illegal actions
The Energy Ministry has so far not divulged details of the type of account holders related to the meters in question, although the minster has said they include both residential and commercial addresses.
He said that many of the account holders were so far collaborating in the investigations and appealed to those who might possess more information to come forward.
He, however, made it clear that whoever had profited from this theft, whether installers or consumers, must pay for their illegal actions.
Times of Malta yesterday asked the Energy Ministry for a breakdown of the smart meters that had been tampered with and whether the corporation would be taking criminal action against the account holders.
In reply, the ministry said: “Enemalta is governed by national legislation, which includes a clearly-defined procedure for the recovery of revenues lost due to electricity theft.
“This procedure will be fol-lowed in all cases where unrecorded electricity consumption is detected.”
Questions sent to the police on whether it is investigating account holders with a view to taking criminal action were not answered yesterday.