Updated | Government rubbishes PN's doubts on prosecution of Enemalta official

Government has dismissed allegations floated by the oppostion on the connections between Enemalta's head of accounts who is under investigation in the energy theft probe and energy minister Konrad Mizzi.

Earlier, during a press conference held at the PN headquarters, Pullicino quoted a recent media article about the arraignment of Louis Attard, head of the accounts division of Enemalta, on charges of electricity theft amounting to thousands of euros. Attard denies charges of bribery of a public official and electricity theft. 

Describing Attard as ranking high in energy minister Konrad Mizzi's inner circle, Pullicino questioned why the police prosecuted Attard as a simple consumer and not with the aggravated forms of the crimes, given that Attard was in a position of public trust.

“This means that the court is limited in the punishment it can award and this raises questions. Who took the decision not to arraign him for the aggravated offence? Why was this decision taken? Was there pressure for this decision to be taken? If so, from whom? Is Konrad Mizzi aware that this will result in considerable reduction in punishment? Is Konrad Mizzi aware that this could be a case of corruption that happened, to quote the minister, ‘on his watch’?” Pullicino asked.

In reaction, government rubbished the opposition‘s allegations a s “false” and said it was yet another attempt to deviate the public from the irregular €35 million contract on the eve of the 2013 election by the then resources minister George Pullicino.

Government insisted that in spite of Pullicino's attempts to associate Attard with the energy minister, Enemalta’s head of accounts “never had any connection with Konrad Mizzi, was never involved in the minister’s electoral campaign and does not reside in the minister’s constituency.”

A document issued by government shows that Attard was employed at Enemalta when the PN was in government in 2005 and was given a promotion just before the 2013 election.

“The PN administration also changed his definite contract to an indefinite one on the eve of the general election,” government said.

During the opposition's press conference, PN deputy leader Mario de Marco has described the government’s consistent failure to answer questions on the power station project as “absolutely unacceptable”, as questions begin to pile up for the Muscat government. 

He argued that a few months short of the end of the timeline given by Joseph Muscat, the people have a right to know when the power station will be ready. “A month has passed since the minister admitted that the project is not on track and yet we remain with no answers."

De Marco, together with MPs George Pullicino and Ryan Callus reiterated the PN’s call on government to publish the ElectroGas and Shanghai Electric Power contracts.

Callus decried the lack of transparency on the part of the government, saying "we are still in the dark with respect to the agreements with ElectroGas and China."