The smart meters corruption saga was slowly but surely being reduced to a bout of political bickering, rather than being acted upon with the seriousness it deserves. Suddenly, Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi regales the nation with the discovery of 665 files relating to pre-smart-meters electricity theft left in four boxes in Enemalta’s billing department. The timing is uncanny.

This government, barely a year in office, has uncovered a number of corruption cases. It was elected on a ticket of zero tolerance to corruption, and therefore all these misadventures should have put it in a position to prove that it means business.

At the outset, one should not doubt that whoever agreed to install a tampered electricity meter has committed a criminal act. This does not mean that the 1,000 or so individuals are habitual criminals, but nevertheless they pilfered government money – even though in our culture cheating the state is practically considered by too many as acceptable.

The supremacy of the rule of law means that they should be brought to justice just like the petty criminal who stole a T-shirt from il-monti was found guilty in court with his name appearing in all the media.

This scandal is of such proportions that one can understand the idea of this administration of withholding criminal action in court if these individuals pay what was due, divulge information on who did it for them and pay an additional fine.

One can argue that it does not help anybody to nail the many individuals, and presumably the many owners of commercial enterprises who employ people, in such a manner that they will not be able to continue with their enterprise. Of course, catching the real brains behind all this should be near the top of the list of priorities of this administration.

But it is not as simple as that: the top priority remains sending out the message that zero tolerance of corruption is really zero tolerance, with no buts and no ifs. The story of the lost files seems to have been used to show that the PN in government surreptitiously refrained from taking criminal action on electricity theft while the PN in Opposition is screaming because the present government is not taking action against what it calls the ‘small fish’ in order to nail the sharks.

The story leaves two open questions. First, the question that has already been made: if the cases were known to the police, how were they kept under wraps?

Secondly, if at some point in time all the set-up regarding the collection of water and electricity dues was transferred to Arms Ltd, how did these four boxes remain at Enemalta? Now we are told that these cases were not really abandoned by Enemalta. Whatever the answers, two wrongs do not make a right.

The connivance with public officials to have one’s smart meter tampered with cannot but be a criminal act that is different from the actual theft of electricity, and those who decided to go on this path should face the consequences of their actions. It is bad enough that the shop next door could lower its prices because its fixed costs were ‘fixed’.

This will be sorted out when they pay their dues plus fine. The art of fixing the fixed costs, it seems, did not start with the tampering of smart meters, as commercial enterprises were doing it before under the old system, if the reports on the lost files are correct.

But where does the government’s ‘unofficial amnesty’ leave those individuals who occupy a position of trust within the administration and in Maltese society as a whole?

The list of offenders could possibly include individuals who are in a position of trust: police officers and other public officials, some of whom are technically above the political fry, such as board members of state entities and of regulatory authorities.

The top priority remains sending out the message that zero tolerance of corruption is really zero tolerance with no buts and no ifs

Will life go on as if nothing happened? Should these individuals continue to enjoy public trust, even if they have admitted that they cannot be trusted? This is what could happen if the list of people who agreed to have their meters tampered with remains secret.

At the end of the day this government has no choice but to publish the list of these offenders after the six weeks given to own up are over. There will be no need for court action for the theft of electricity, as is allowed by existing legislation; but the act of corrupting a public official cannot be ignored, and those who did this when they were in a position of trust must face the consequences.

There is also a role for the Opposition in all this, beyond refraining from shirking its political responsibility of whatever happened under its watch. Both government and Opposition must rise above petty politics aimed at earning silly brownie points and fight corruption together. It is in the interest of all to send a clear message to everybody that the political class will not accept being hostage to citizens who think they can get away with crime simply because they have a vote.

micfal@maltanet.net