The net appears to be widening in the electricity-theft racket, with Enemalta receiving a “phenomenal” number of tip-offs, many of which go beyond the smart meters already identified as having been tampered with.

Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi said on TVM last night that this showed how widespread the problem of electricity theft was.

The government has told the owners of 1,000 meters involved in the illegal scheme that they can avoid prosecution by paying their dues, plus interest and a penalty, and revealing the names of those who tampered with their meter.

Dr Mizzi told his interviewer on Dissett that these consumers were being given a six-week deadline, from Monday, to regularise their position or face the consequences.

A large number of people had inquired about the scheme, allowing consumers to own up, he said.

A “phenomenal” number of tip-offs had been received about the smart meters the authorities already knew about, in an attempt to catch those behind the racket, but there were many other cases too.

He expected more prosecutions beyond the three Enemalta employees taken to court last week.

Dr Mizzi blamed an “explosion” in theft on the removal of a monitoring unit by the former Nationalist government in 2010, when it was deemed redundant due to technological advances.

Enemalta yesterday announced the suspension of a ninth employee who allegedly rigged consumers’ smart meters. Just after that announcement was made, Nationalist Party deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami claimed the “small fry” being granted an amnesty in exchange for information stole an average of €30,000 worth of electricity each last year.

“We aren’t talking about small fry here, these are big fish. The question is: who is the government protecting by issuing this amnesty?” he asked at a press conference.

He said his calculation was based on the figures given by the government: that €30 million had been stolen by the owners of 1,000 smart meters, resulting in an average of €30,000 each.

However, on TV later Dr Mizzi clarified that the figure of €30 million amounted to total theft of electricity in one year and not necessarily that from the 1,000 meters, as there were various forms of theft.

Dr Fenech Adami insisted the police were obliged to carry out investigations and take all those responsible to court.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had no right to grant amnesties, he said: “No one is above the law, not even the Prime Minister. No one can stop legal action being taken against people involved in bribery.”

Consumers, however, are even going to be given a second chance: Justice Parliamentary Secretary Owen Bonnici said yesterday that if they do not own up, provide information and pay their dues, they could choose to comply even after they have been prosecuted.

Asked what provisions existed in the law to allow the government to grant the amnesty, Dr Bonnici said a legal notice issued in 2006, under the former government, gave the chairman of Enemalta the authority to waive criminal action when a settlement was reached.

Dr Fenech Adami rubbished the argument, saying the law applied to theft and not bribery.

The legal notice did not apply to the current situation as it was written at a time when smart meters had not yet been installed.

“We aren’t talking about a time when Enemalta went round door to door to investigate meter tampering. These are smart meters, it’s a completely different situation.”

Opposition home affairs spokesman Jason Azzopardi said the Criminal Code pinpointed the police’s responsibility to take legal action against both the bribed and the briber.

On his part, Dr Bonnici said the Attorney General had advised the government that it was not clear that those who used tampered meters had bribed anyone in terms of the law.