Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/292371
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 9 APRIL 2014 News 4 CHRIS MANGION RICHARD Gauci, 47 of Rabat pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and defrauding Enemalta through the installation of smart meters which were tampered with in order to read less consumption. Magistrate Carol Peralta today started hearing four compilations of evidence against Richard Gauci, Martin Cilia La Corte, Anthony Mifsud and Manoel Micallef, all charged in connection with En- emalta smart meter scam. At the start of the sitting lawyer Domenic Micallef told the court that his client Richard Gauci was pleading guilty to the charges. Calling in recent legal amend- ments concerning guilty pleas dur- ing a compilation of evidence, Mag- istrate Peralta chose not to hear six witnesses summoned today and postponed the case to 5 May for judgement. This was the first time these amendments were brought into action. Next in the dock were 49-year old Martin Cilia la Corte of Marsaska- la, and 50-year old Anthony Mifsud of Rabat. The prosecution and the defence agreed that witness common to both cases would be heard once and the evidence inserted in both cases. Taking the witness stand, inspec- tor Daniel Zammit explained how in October 2013 he received a re- port from Enemalta relating to use of electricity through smart meters which registered a discrepancy in consumption. Equipment was brought over by Enemalta and engi- neers started doing onsite checks. Three meters were sent over to Enel in Italy for further tests. Enel found that the internal circuit board was modified to read between 20% and 90% less energy consumed. Three employees were arrested and arraigned. Police found that these employees were getting paid between €500-€1,000 by account holders for every meter installed. Further investigation revealed that a number of people, some of whom were not Enemalta employ- ees, were working as intermediaries for the scheme. One of these peo- ple was the accused Martin Cilia La Corte. The accused would ap- proach account holders and inform them of the availability of smart meters which were tampered with to under read, and the cost of such installation. Cross examined by lawyer Gi- anella de Marco, the prosecuting inspector said that over 400 ac- count holders were involved in the scam, and the police had spoken to around a 100 of them. Of these six or seven identified La Corte as the person who introduced them to the scam. Enemalta internal auditor Manto- ine D'Ambrogio and engineer Car- mel Scerri recounted how the Cor- poration came to know about the scam. A benchmark test of a meter in Attard under-read by 70% and a meter installed In Fgura under- read by 90%. The common factor in these meters as that they were installed by Richard Gauci and had not been replaced in a roll-out of smart meters, but no reason could be traced why they were changed. Another meter which was tam- pered with was installed by the ac- cused Anthony Mifsud. The meter installed at Mifsud's residence was also found to have been tampered with. A further three account hold- ers pointed at Mifsud as being a middleman in the scam. Tests done by Enel confirmed that the meters had been opened and had hardware modifications, resulting in registering less con- sumption. At the end of the sitting, Magis- trate Peralta granted Martin Cilia La Corte bail after the prosecution explained that the amnesty period for account holders to come for- ward was now over. La Corte was released on deposit of €1,500 and a personal guaran- tee of €8,500. In the case of An- thony Mifsud, the court postponed the request for bail for Thursday, awaiting the reply from the Attor- ney General. Richard Gauci, the third man, admitting to charges of tamper- ing with the meters. Over the past three months, Paul Pantalleresco, 55, Mqabba and Carmel Vella, 55 of Zejtun, both pleaded guilty and were jailed for two years and hand- ed a general perpetual interdiction. Ten other employees are suspended from office as the investigations continue. Account holders testify In a separate sitting against Ma- noel Micallef, 35 of Mtarfa, witness Eric Montfort from Enemalta's legal office exhibited a document drop- ping charges against Joseph Stivala, of Luqa; Carmelo Agius, of Qormi and George Mifsud of Qormi. The three men benefited from a scheme for those who had tampered meters but chose to come forward and reg- ularise their position. Caroline Zerafa, from the Attor- ney General, exhibited certificates exempting the men from criminal proceedings. First on the witness stand was George Mifsud, who said he met the accused in a coffee shop in Ra- bat. "After mentioning he worked at Enemalta, I told him that I still had the old meter installed. The ac- cused replied that he could install a smart meter for me himself, and jokingly I told him to get me a me- ter which would charge less. "However the accused told me there was a solution which would cost me €1,500. I agreed and some weeks later he came to my resi- Former Enemalta emplo yee admits to charges Third man charged in connection with the Enemalta smart meter scam pleaded guilty as charged, while three account holders testify how Manoel Micallef offered to install smart meters which under-read consumption. JAMES J. PISCOPO NATIONALIST leader Simon Bu- suttil yesterday morning reiterated that his party was working towards electing three MEPs for the first time, adding that realistically it would be "impossible" to recover the 36,000 votes majority in just one year. Despite the fact that parties in op- position always fared very well in the previous European Parliament elections due to the popular protest vote, Busuttil played this down and said that one should be realistic. "It is very difficult – if not impos- sible – to gain back 36,000 votes. Thus, we are not looking to recover the deficit with the Labour Party in terms of votes but in terms of seats. During the years we have seen that two PN MEPs always worked more than four Labour MEPs, so imagine how much more can we work if we had the third seat for the first time in 10 years," Simon Busuttil said. Busuttil remarked that he was not interested in using terms such as 'underdogs' but said that the electorate had the chance to speak through their vote about the gov- ernment's first year. "The electorate can judge the gov- ernment's performance through their vote," he added. Simon Busuttil was addressing the media during Roberta Met- sola's campaign launch, where an overview of the Nationalist MEPs work during the past legislature was also outlined. Saying it was a special occasion for him since it was Metsola who 'A third EP seat would be a win for us' – Busuttil Simon Busuttil (left) and Roberta Metsola He told me he could fit a meter which under reads in exchange for €1,300.