Solar panel company director, San Lawrenz councillors, cleared of fraud charges

The director of local solar energy company Di Natura has been cleared of a host of charges relating to fraud and falsification of documents in connection with the 2011 government photovoltaic panels grant scheme.

The allegations were related to a scheme offering subsidies for photovoltaic (PV) panels, that had been approved by the Nationalist local council of San Lawrenz, Gozo with solar panel contractor Godfrey Formosa’s firm Di Natura.

Di Natura had been selected out of a total of 11 other contractors by the San Lawrenz council for a tender to offer PV panels against a 50% refund, paid by government, that was capped at €3,000. San Lawrenz local council planned to subsidise the 80 applicants in San Lawrenz with the €3,000 refund, although the panels did not cost more than €4,300. The town's former mayor, Noel Formosa, had claimed that while applicants would be paying €4,000, the price on the invoice would be marked as €6,000 and they would receive a refund of half the marked price (€3,000).
The scheme was suspended by the Malta Resources Authority (MRA) after Di Natura's competitors had claimed the marketing ploy was illegal. In fact, the scheme had come to an abrupt end when the other 10 contractors sent a protest to the MRA, saying that they felt that the scheme offered by Di Natura was abusive and asking that it be investigated. The authority had suspended the scheme shortly afterwards.

The most serious of the charges Formosa faced were fraud, falsification of documents and knowingly making use of forged documents.

Formosa's defence lawyer Stefano Filletti had argued that Godfrey Formosa had budgeted for an opportunity cost with regards to the photovoltaic panels. “You have a product that is going to be sold for €6,000 and which the accused is offering for sale at the discounted price of €4,000,” the lawyer had told magistrate Neville Camilleri. “This was not because it would only be costing him €4,000 – it costs €6,000 - but the €2,000 difference would have been spent by the accused on the applicants.”

San Lawrenz local council had appointed an adjudication board to evaluate applicants and held meetings with residents. The MRA had sent every applicant a letter, informing them that the price that should be submitted in the application was the price after deducting grants.

The court noted that the accused had been charged under the articles of the law dealing with fraud, which it said, protected the public by inhibiting the use of falsehoods to make commercial gain.

The government had issued a call in February 2010, which set out that the price for the award of the grant was to be taken as the price printed on the fiscal receipt. REAM president Oliver Brownrigg had confirmed that the local council had carried out the exercise in a manner that was completely above-board.

Godfrey Formosa of Di Natura was a direct competitor to several members of REAM, who also directly offered gifts to applicants under the scheme. Formosa's testimony before the court had been consistent with several statements which he had given to the police. Formosa had been advised by then MEP Simon Busuttil to amend his offer from €6,000 to €4,000. The court said the reduction in price was not shown to be malicious.

Taking all this into consideration, the court was unequivocal in pointing out that no evidence of an attempt to commit fraud had been proven.

Likewise, while the signature of an MRA employee on a grant-related document was found to have been simulated, the court noted that the prosecution had failed to prove that it had been knowingly made use of by Godfrey Formosa or that he had a hand in its creation.

The court said that while it could speculate on what might have happened, this would simply be conjecture. It declared the accused not guilty on the basis that none of the accusations had been proven.

A related case, against a number of San Lawrenz local councillors who were charged with complicity in the alleged crimes, was also dismissed. Lawyer Joe Giglio represented the accused in that case.