An Enemalta employee accused of tampering of Smart meters changed his plea to guilty today and is awaiting judgment.

Richard Gauci was the third employee to plead guilty in the case. Another two men were last month sentenced to two years jail each after also pleading guilty.

The guilty plea was filed as the court, presided by Magistrate Carol Peralta, continued to hear evidence against three other men accused of tampering. They are Martin Cilia La Corte, Anthony Mifsud and Emanuel Camilleri.

During the proceedings against Mr Cilia La Corte, Police Inspector Daniel Zammit, from the Economic Crimes Unit, said the police were informed about discrepancies in meter readings. An analysis of smart meters revealed the consumption was zero or almost.

More checks were carried out and three installers were identified. These employees were paid between €500 and €1,000 per tampered meters.

Martin Cilia La Corte had been identified as a middleman between clients and installers. He was arrested at the end of March. He denied involvement and refused to answer police questions. Six or seven people who had sought an amnesty from court proceedings, had identified Mr Cilia La Corte as being the middleman. 

Another accused, Anthony Mifsud, was also identified as a go-between and had been mentioned by three people, the inspector said. 

Carmel Scerri, an Enemalta engineer responsible for the meters section, also spoke about how the investigations were carried out. He said that as tip-offs came in, meters were checked and found to be under-reading by 70 per cent or more.

Two factors resulted - meters were replaced without reason, and the installer was Richard Gauci. 

CLIENTS TESTIFY AFTER AMNESTY

Eric Montfort, legal advisor to Enemalta, presented documents in court renouncing criminal action against three clients who applied for the government amnesty: Joseph Stivala, Carmelo Agius and George Mifsud.

Caroline Zerafa, from the office of the Attorney General presented certificates exempting the three men from criminal procedures.

George Mifsud testified how he got to know Emanuel Micallef by chance. Mr Micallef told him that he worked at Enemalta, and they  spoke about the smart meters.

Mr Micallef offered him a tampered meter for  €1,500. he paid him and the meter was installed. The meter under-read by 63 per cent. 

On February 10, the feast of St. Paul, when he went home, his son told him that the police had called to check the meter. Then the news about the tampered meters broke, and he decided to call Enemalta and the meter was replaced.

A second client, Joseph Stivala said that in 2012,  Mr Micallef called at his home to install a smart meter. He chatted with him that the meter would mean higher bills, whereupon Mr Micallef told him he could get him a meter which showed a lower reading.

That was what was done, with the new meter under-reading by 59 per cent.

The third witness, Carmelo Agius, said that after a conversation about electricity bills in a Marsa bar, Mr Micallef followed him out and offered him a meter which could read 20 per cent less, for €1,000. He accepted and the meter was replaced. The new meter read 61 per cent.

The three smart meters were presented in court.

Inspector Zammit said the prosecution were no longer objecting to bail for the accused as the amnesty period had closed and those who wanted to come forward had done so. The police would be getting in touch with those who had called. Those who did not come forward would be investigated by the police.

Magistrate Peralta granted the accused bail against a deposit of €1,500 and a personal guarantee of €8,500.

The case continues