Update 2 | Tonio Fenech denies being ‘aware’ of energy theft, sues for libel

Former finance minister Tonio Fenech today rebutted the energy minister's accusations that he was aware of the energy theft at Enemalta and "should shoulder responsibility."

Fenech said that he was never aware of this and the Nationalist Party later said that the MP would be suing the minister for libel.

Speaking on One Radio, the minister said that Fenech, who was responsible for Enemalta under the previous PN administration, "was aware of energy theft on a large scale but failed to take any action."

"Who is behind this scam must pay. However, who will carry the political responsibility?" Mizzi asked.

This week, eight Enemalta employees were suspended after a Theft Control Unit set up within Enemalta discovered that at least 1,000 smart meters had been tampered with, registering less energy units than actually consumed.

According to Mizzi, the theft amounts to 10% of the total generation of electricity by Enemalta, costing taxpayers around €30 million in 2012 alone.

It is believed the thefts started in 2011, "exploding to 10%" in 2012.

The minister said that the former PN administration was aware of the tampering, however it had denied media reports on the matter and failed to take any action.

"Suspicions were rife at the time and although it was obvious that huge amounts of energy was being stolen, absolutely nothing was done," Mizzi said.

Describing the theft as an "organised scam," Mizzi explained that upon taking office, one of the first problems which was flagged was the discrepancy between the units of energy produced and the units of registered energy consumed by customers.

He added that with the help of Italian company Enel, the unit identified 1,000 meters which had their internal hardware tampered "professionally."

Mizzi did not exclude further suspensions at Enemalta and said that people are coming forward with information.

"Our intention is to turn Enemalta into a clean business. We will not accept theft and we will not accept abuse.

As first reported in various sections of the media in 2012, the masterminds behind the racket would charge around €1,200 per smart meter tampered with, with prices going up if the job is done within commercial establishments.

However, Fenech denied that he was aware of the theft, insisting that if this was the case he would have "immediately informed the police."

Speaking to MaltaToday, the former minister said "we absolutely had no information about energy theft. What we were aware of is that the smart meters might have had certain defects and we were carrying out tests with Enel to investigate possible flaws."

Fenech added that unlike the Labour government, the former administration was prudent enough not to divulge details on these possible flaws and methods how meters could be tampered with, "because we did not want to give people ideas and encourage theft."

Turning the tables on to Mizzi, the Opposition MP said "the minister is blaming everything on the opposition as he has been doing for 10 months. However, it is clear that he is doing so because he has been caught on the wrong foot in this case."

He said that Mizzi "is the one who should shoulder responsibility" for appointing Louis Attard as a liaison officer between the state utility and the ministry, who the minister confirmed as being one of the suspended employees.

Fenech said that Attard, was appointed as the "minister's voice inside Enemalta" and was awarded a promotion and an allowance increase without a call.

"Mizzi is responsible for appointing Attard, who is one of the employees who is expected to be arraigned over the theft of energy."

Sources close to Enemalta told MaltaToday that Attard was employed with Enemalta in 2005 on a scale 10 definite contract. In 2010, he was promoted to scale 5 and in February 2013, before the March 2013 general elections, his contract was changed to indefinite.

On Wednesday evening, pressed by Opposition MP George Pullicino, Mizzi confirmed that Attard was one of the Enemalta employees suspended.

Moreover, Fenech said that Mizzi should be "thankful" to the previous administration which had introduced the smart meters and an IT system which make it easier for Enemlata to detect theft.

Meanwhile, later today the Nationalist Party issued a statement in which it said that Mizzi was "panicking" and announced that Fenech would be suing the energy minister for libel.

"It is clear that minister Konrad Mizzi is in a state of panic following the appointment of a liaison officer between the ministry and Enemalta who is under investigation over the theft of energy. Mizzi is blatantly lying in an attempt to avoid to brush off his political responsibility," the PN said.

Insisting that Attard "is very close to the minister," the PN said that Mizzi had not denied this "and therefore should shoulder political responsibility for his decisions."

Enemalta's Theft Control Unit identified the persons who had installed the tampered smart meters and carried out random checking on smart meters installed by each tradesman. 95% of the smart meters checked confirmed the unit's suspicions.

The checking process is till underway. A small number of smart meters have been replaced.

Yesterday, Paul Pantalleresco, a former Enemalta employee, was jailed for two years after he admitted to bribery and tampering some 250 Smart meters.

Another two Enemalta employees who were arraigned yesterday, pleaded not guilty and were remanded in custody.