Last year’s investigation into a solar panel scam resulted in charges being filed against Di Natura’s owner Godfrey Formosa, Times of Malta has learnt.

Mr Formosa was charged on July 11 with forgery of documents and giving false declarations to a public authority.

The case is being heard by Magistrate Saviour Demicoli.

A year earlier, on April 14, 2011, Mr Formosa was charged with similar crimes together with fraud, according to the police.

These were the only times a solar panel supplier was charged over such irregularities, the police told Times of Malta.

Last October, this newspaper reported that the police would be issuing fraud charges against the directors of a solar panel supplier following an investigation into an EU fund scheme.

It turns out that charges had already been filed a couple of months earlier, contrary to what police sources had said.

It was Malta Enterprise itself that had reported the matter to the police after preliminary analysis of funding applications made by the company in question raised suspicions of irregularities.

The ERDF energy grant scheme provides EU financing to commercial enterprises to invest in power-saving measures and alternative energy sources.

Companies could apply to receive half of their investment on alternative energy sources through the scheme. In some cases, the EU grant amounted to almost €100,000 per firm.

According to the scheme’s rules, applicants had to supply three different quotes from three different suppliers with their project plans.

The police found that applicants were being provided with three quotations, under different names, in such a way that the company would be assured of supplying the equipment itself at an inflated price.