After Vassallo Builders, former Enemalta CEO connected to smart meter project

The firm Loqus Holdings, formerly known as Datatrak Holdings, are involved in part of Enemalta’s €70 million smart meter project – one of the corporation’s projects embarked during Spiteri Gingell’s leadership.

Loqus are understood to be involved in another part of the smart meter project, namely the satellite reading of special ‘probes’ that will be attached to the old water meters, which are not connected to the energy grid.

Spiteri Gingell was made a senior officer with Datatrak Holdings soon after leaving Enemalta in June 2008, when talks with computing giant IBM had started on the smart meter project.

Specifically, he drifted straight from Enemalta into Datatrak in August 2008, and then was made CEO of Loqus Business Consulting in September, with a 25% shareholding. Datatrak then changed its name to Loqus in 2009.

By December 2008 Enemalta had launched a five-year nationwide smart meter and smart grid, with IBM as its key implementer.

Similarly, Spiteri Gingell found himself in the position of consultant to Vassallo Builders Group, the local contractor for Danish firm BWSC – who won the controversial €200 million contract for the Delimara power extension – when the former CEO was on the adjudication committee on the contract.

Spiteri Gingell has claimed with MaltaToday that after leaving Enemalta in April 2008, Loqus Business Consulting “was not involved in private work or in marketing itself within the private sector given [his] assignment to manage the Delimara tender adjudication.”

But the company then was still known as Datatrak, and only rebranded itself after April 2009, when Loqus starting positioning itself in the market. In September 2009, Loqus was approached by Vassallo Builders to carry out a strategic review of the group, and in March 2010, Spiteri Gingell was invited by Vassallo Builders to sit on the strategic board for the implementation of the strategic report.

Both Datatrak and Vassallo Builders Group are located a few doors away from each other in the Mosta Technopark estate.

Vassallo Builders Group also employes former Enemalta chairman Alex Tranter, who admitted to a conflict of interest in the Delimara tender process, when VBGL tendered for the power station extension project.

The European Commission has accused the government of having led an irregular procurement process for the 144MW Delimara power station extension.

The EC raised serious doubts on changes in emissions rules, which it says were carried out to benefit Danish firm BWSC’s bid for a diesel-powered engine that had been previously ruled out by emission laws.

Spiteri Gingell had previously claimed that the changes to the emission rules had been carried out to comply with EU law, but the Commission is claiming the rules were changed to suit diesel technology only, and not gas-powered engines.