The Attorney General will be deciding whether to waive bribery charges against consumers involved in the €30 million electricity theft scam that rocked Enemalta, provided they give evidence against crooked corporation employees.
The AG will be using a provision in the law which gives him the power to issue a certificate exempting “any person... from any criminal proceedings” in return for “all the facts known to him relating to any corrupt practice or any offence connected therewith before the Commission and, or, any court of criminal jurisdiction...”
The development comes after the lead inspector in the case, Daniel Zammit, unwittingly stoked a political hornet’s nest when he said in court that the police had not acted against consumers in the scandal “because of a political decision” and because “an amnesty may be given to those people”.
I was not told what to do and what not to do but I would be irresponsible not to take note of what is happening around me
He was discussing a request for bail in the case of Enemalta technicians Emanuel Micallef and Richard Gauci, who stand charged with accepting bribes to install rigged meters.
Another employee, 55-year-old Paul Pantalleresco, admitted to the same charges and was jailed for two years. The technicians would be paid an average of €1,200 for each rigged smart meter.
The inspector’s statement prompted an immediate reaction from the PN which called on Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit to resign since the inspector’s declaration proved the force had succumbed to political interference.
In his first comment since the PN statement, the Police Commissioner insisted yesterday there had been no political interference. “I was not told what to do and what not to do but I would be irresponsible not to take note of what is happening around me and not act prudently as a consequence,” he said.
He argued that Inspector Zammit had stated “correctly” that the police had put on hold the interrogation of consumers but not that they had ditched the investigation.
He said the police would be investigating each suspect consumer, case by case, and making a recommendation to the AG who will then decide how to proceed under the terms of the law.
He confirmed that investigators had started speaking to the first batch of consumers who came forward voluntarily under the terms of the amnesty announced by the Prime Minister.
The government said it was using a 2006 legal notice, which empowered Enemalta to waive criminal charges on the theft of electricity in return for a penalty or having the value of the electricity stolen refunded.
However, the Nationalist Party pointed out that Enemalta had no legal basis to grant an amnesty on suspected corruption. Enemalta has the discretion not to pursue the theft of electricity but the law gives the police a free hand to investigate such cases.
The Police Commissioner yesterday insisted he could not ignore the messages coming from the government, which could also, if it chose to, grant presidential pardons.
“But that does not mean that I have allowed political interference in our work.”
“We are pursuing all the information we obtain. For instance, an inquiry has been called with regard to a specific consumer who did not come forward voluntarily and who had multiple meters siphoning off huge amounts of electricity.
“We will investigate this sort of case and residential sort of consumers make our recommendations to the AG.”