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AN Enemalta employee revealed 665 cases of confirmed electric- ity theft that were surprisingly "locked away in an abandoned room" in the billing department. The files took up four boxes which date between 2006 and 2011, and had been the subject of police investigations, confirming the theft. The ministers responsi- ble for Enemalta at the time were Austin Gatt and Tonio Fenech. Yesterday, parliament was sus- pended after the Opposition took umbrage at Konrad Mizzi's com- ments. Energy minister Mizzi in- sisted that the "theft" took place under the watch of a Nationalist administration. MaltaToday can reveal that one case refers to the theft amounting to €101,000, and others include theft from established hotels. A report with the police had all also been lodged. It is estimated the thefts amount to over €2 mil- lion, with some of the individual cases running into hundreds of thousands. Enemalta said that only 10% of the files were commercial. Addressing the press yesterday, Konrad Mizzi said the whistle- blower – who works in a different section – approached government officials last week to reveal the scandal. "The shocking part is not that the theft occurred… because the consumers had been caught, their tampered meters changed and police brought in who confirmed the tampering. The shocking part is that these files were shelved, and not a cent was recovered," he said. Reiterating his disbelief, Mizzi said he found it hard to believe that nothing was done despite En- emalta opening theft files. It is un- derstood that the 665 cases were a portion of theft cases which En- emalta investigated over the years and which monies it recovered. "This is criminal, obscene. Why were these particular files locked away? This is the supposed 'zero tolerance' against corruption the PN talks about. This is the pardon that was carried out by the previ- ous administration," he said. Turning his attention to former finance minister Tonio Fenech, previously responsible of Ene- malta, Mizzi said he now "under- stood" why the PN was "hiding" Fenech: "He should disappear from the political scene." Enemalta will now be holding an internal investigation to establish why the files had not been proc- essed and whether there had been any ulterior motives. The corpo- ration was now seeking legal ad- vice to determine the way forward on how to recuperate the money. Information provided by En- emalta shows that the majority of files, 186 were "put away", in 2011. Files located to date show the files split as follows: 32 in 2005, 22 in 2006, 73 in 2007, 91 in 2008, 121 in 2009 and 140 in 2011. In a statement, the PN said the Op- position was against any form of theft and the necessary steps should be taken to ensure that Enemalta recovers the monies. It added that Enemalta had passed on the cases to the police to in- vestigate the matter, "contrary to what the government did with the 1,000 tampered smart meters". The PN also said that Mizzi is now expected to investigate why the Police had not proceeded with its investigation involving the 665 files. "We expect the minister to stop playing the partisan political game and take action against the cases of thefts and bribery." €0.90 WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION WEDNESDAY • 26 FEBRUARY 2014 • ISSUE 353 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY ISSUE NO. 64 | FEBRUARY 2014 THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE KAMRA TALPERITI The Architect FREE inside Newspaper post The Maltese Government is committed to strengthen the human rights and equality framework in Malta. Share your views on ZZZPVGFJRYPWKXPDQULJKWV¢ The consultation ends on Friday 28th March 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS AND EQUALITY Public Consultation Established hotels were allowed to get away with murder THE FORGOTTEN 665 CASES OF ELECTRICITY THEFT Konrad Mizzi on Tonio Fenech: Mizzi said he now "understood" why the PN was "hiding" Fenech: "He should disappear from the political scene" Marine engineer says LNG terminal fears are 'a perception' Ship-to-ship cargo transfer company SPT Inc. to supply LNG tanker for the Delimara energy project JEROME CARUANA CILIA FEARS about the LNG cargo tanker are "a perception", accord- ing to SPT Inc. Vice President and marine engineer Stephen David- son. SPT Inc., specialising in ship-to- ship oil and gas transfer, will be supplying the tanker for the Deli- mara energy project. In an exclusive interview with current affairs programme Re- porter, Davidson said he under- stood people's fears, attributing such fears to lack of knowledge about the product and methods used to keep it contained and transported safely. "LNG has an excellent safety record and is safely contained in large volumes in several countries around the world," he said. Davidson said the gas storage facility was not a health hazard and that LNG (liquefied natural gas) was a non-toxic, clean en- ergy source. Explaining that the fuel's storage was robust, he said that LNG had an excellent safety record with a small f lammability range when compared to other hy- drocarbons. CONTINUES ON PAGE 3 SEE PAGE 7 Coleiro Preca: Necessary sacrifice or a smart move? PAGE 10 UEFA Champions League report PAGE 21

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