Inspectors of the Malta Resource Authority surprised gas company Easygas with an unannounced visit yesterday afternoon following a tip-off claiming that the company was illegally filling cylinders belonging to rival company Liquigas.
The source of the tip-off is not known.
Accompanied by two police officers, the MRA inspectors stopped a gas distributor exiting the Easygas headquarters in Luqa and seized two 12 kg gas cylinders that were on his truck. One of the two cylinders was painted black (Easygas) and the other yellow (Liquigas).
The inspectors weighed the two cylinders on the spot, then labelled and sealed them before hauling them away into the police car.
When placed on the scales, the uncapped yellow 12 kg cylinder seized by the inspectors weighed 24.15 kg, which would indicate that it was full (12 kg of gas added to the small cylinders’ 12 kg tare weight).
The contents of the two cylinders would be analysed to determine its provenance, a process that could take months, sources said.
The truck that was stopped by the inspectors was carrying cylinders of all sizes. As the inspectors conferred, a number of Easygas employees looked on perplexed.
The inspectors declined to comment.
MRA officials contacted later said they preferred not to comment for the time being.
Easygas is licensed to import gas cylinders from Italy but not to fill cylinders itself, something only its larger competitor, Liquigas, is permitted to do.
Should the analysis of the samples prove the allegations correct, both Easygas and the distributor in question are likely to face legal action. But Easygas managing director Reuben Farrugia unequivocally denied the claims, saying the company had nothing to hide.
This is the latest in a series of disputes between Easygas and Liquigas. The two companies have found themselves at loggerheads over a number of issues.
Last year, Liquigas alleged that its rival had illicitly shipped several Liquigas cylinders to Italy to be resprayed and converted into Easygas canisters.
Easygas has insisted that Liquigas has been using its clout to try and bully its smaller competitor into submission.
Sources say a similar tip-off had led to MRA sealing a number of pipes at Easygas’s headquarters last year on suspicion that the pipes were being used to refill gas cylinders.
Mr Farrugia denied this outright, insisting that inspectors had never found anything suspicious. “No, they never found anything in the past,” was his curt reply.