Consumers who benefited from tampered electricity meters are being invited to come forward, pay back what they had stolen and pay a penalty without being taken to court, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this morning.

He also announced that it was not enough for those who had organised this racket to go to prison, and the governemnt would therefore launch civil court proceedings to recover the money which they got from this scheme.

Speaking at a Labour Youths activity, Dr Muscat said the government wanted to get to the bottom of this racket and catch the big fish.

The consumers who had benefited from the tampered meters were known, he said. He did not wish to see a witch-hunt on consumers, and Enemalta was therefore setting up a unit where those consumers who had benefited would be asked to come forward to pay the money they had stolen plus a penalty according to law.

In this way, the police and the courts would not need to be involved in their case.

However, with regard to those people who had organised and operated this scheme, it was not enough to send them to prison, and the government would institute civil proceedings to recover the money they had stolen, including the €1,500 they were allegedly paid for each tampered meter. 

The ultimate aim, Dr Muscat said, was to catch the big fish.

He was therefore appealing to those having information to seek legal advice and to use the Whistle blower's Act to come forward with information.

Much the same applied to the oil procurement scandal, he said. Those who were responsible, even political persons if that was the case, had to be identified.

Dr Muscat said the meters tampering case was not a new one and he was  surprised that Tonio Fenech, the minister who had been responsible for Enemalta, had claimed that he did not know about it.

The Audit Office in August 2012 had reported about consistent reports of theft of electricity. The media had also reported such concerns and spoken of a racket leading to the loss of millions for Enemalta.

Enemalta had now estimated theft of electricity cost it €30m in lost revenue every year.

If Mr Fenech was saying he did not know of this case, then he had not been reading the reports which had been made in his time. But this was apparently a person who got confused over Arloggii tal-lira and Arloggi tad-dawl

Indeed, Dr Muscat said, Enemalta had told the NAO in August 2012 that what was being said in the media was 'untrue'.

The present government would not let anyone abuse and would investigate seriously, with no preferences for anyone, Dr Muscat said.