Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/292371
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 9 APRIL 2014 News 5 dence, change the meter and took the money. I did not know what was different from other meters because it looked exactly the same as the rest." Cross-examined by Dr Joe Giglio, the witness told the court that on St Paul's day, 10 February, he got to know about the scheme and approached Enemalta to ben- efit from it. Joseph Stivala testified that he had called Enemalta, requesting that a smart meter is installed at his residence. The accused called at his residence to install the me- ter. "I complained that through the use of smart meters utility bills will be more expensive. He told me he could fit a meter which un- der reads in exchange for €1,300. He returned to my house later, replaced the meter and took my money," he said. When he heard about the scheme granting account hold- ers immunity he approached En- emalta about his meter. The last account holder taking the stand today was Carmel Ag- ius, who said he met the Enemalta installer in a coffee shop. "A man approached me outside the shop and offered to reduce my electric- ity bill by 20% or 30%. I agreed to pay him €1,000 for this. Four days later he called at my residence and replaced my smart meter and three hours later he installed a new me- ter." Agius approached Enemalta and owed up to his deeds when he heard about the immunity scheme. All three account holders identi- fied the accused as the man who installed their modified meter. The prosecution exhibited the three tampered smart meters be- longing to the witnesses. Mifsud's meter only registered 37%, Stivala's 41% and Agius's 39% of toktal con- sumption. Defence lawyer Joe Giglio argued that unfortunately the granting of bail in this case did not follow nor- mal regulations, but "was governed by an administrative scheme with the sole aim that Enemalta recoups its monies, which apparently has not happened anyway." The lawyer informed the court he had filed a new request for bail. Magistrate Peralta postponed the case for Thursday, awaiting the re- ply from the Attorney General. ,PSRUWDQWVDIHW\LQIRUPDWLRQUHJDUGLQJ0HGHOD·V%:HOO6WHULOLVHU This is an important customer information with regard to all Medela B-Well Sterilisers in Malta, namely article numbers 008.0100 to 008.0104, 008.0121, 008.0287. The U\TILY`V\ÄUKVU[OLWYVK\J[PZVY Due to moisture potentially gathering at the connection of the power cable and the Steriliser unit in individual cases, B-Well Sterilisers can carry a potential risk of burn, ÄYLVYL_WVZ\YL[VZPNUPÄJHU[LSLJ[YPJJ\YYLU[+LZWP[L[OLMHJ[[OH[UVZPNUPÄJHU[ health complaints associated with such incident have been reported, the risk of very ZL]LYLOLHS[OJVTWSHPU[ZJHUH[[OPZWVPU[UV[ILL_JS\KLK Medela takes the safety of its products very seriously. Therefore, Medela has initiated H^VYSK^PKL]VS\U[HY`ÄLSKTLHZ\YL^P[OYLNHYK[VHSS)>LSS:[LYPSPZLYZ*\Z[VTLYZ are asked to permanently refrain from using the B-Well Steriliser. You are also asked to disconnect the power cable from the electric system. As an additional measure, Medela is requesting all end customers to either return the B-Well-Steriliser to the point where they purchased it. ,\YVWOHYTH3[K[OLL_JS\ZP]LKPZ[YPI\[VYZVM4LKLSHPU4HS[HOH]LHSYLHK`Z[HY[LK [OPZ]VS\U[HY`ÄLSKTLHZ\YLHUKOH]L[YPLK[VNL[PUJVU[HJ[^P[OHSSJ\Z[VTLYZYLNPZ- tered on their database who have purchased this item directly from them. Europharma Ltd has also informed all pharmacies and other retailers who resell B-Well Steriliser on the Maltese market about this issue in order to contact all known customers who have purchased this product and advised them to return it accordingly. The advert shall also support these efforts of Europharma. In this regard, any custom- ers who are still in possession of a B-Well Steriliser are asked to stop using it and re- turning it either to original point of purchase, or directly to Europharma Ltd on address printed below. Medela is prepared to provide a voluntary payment to customers for any physical return of the product. For further details on this and in case of any other questions whatsoever, please contact b-well@medela.ch or check www.medela.com/b-well Address of the Medela distributor in Malta ,\YVWOHYTH3[K*H[HS\U`H)\PSKPUNZ7ZHPSH:[YLL[)º2HYH)29 ;LS -H_ 4HPSPUMV'L\YVWOHYTHJVTT[ Former Enemalta emplo yee admits to charges inherited his EP seat last year, he underlined that although popular perception seems to hint that Met- sola worked for years in the institu- tion, in reality she achieved all this in just 11 months. "Her competence and expertise in EU affairs made it possible for her to hit the ground running when she was elected last year. She showed her competence and dedication on several issues, including the IIP de- bate where her work proved to be a success." Meanwhile, Metsola gave an overview of her main involvement in the European Parliament and said that her initiatives were always people-oriented and spurred by the Maltese citizens' needs. "You cannot serve as an MEP and do not have continuous meetings with your electorate. For instance, I was asked to intervene on behalf of hundreds of Marsaxlokk resi- dents who were concerned with the gas storage, and I did. Regardless of partisan politics they wanted piece of mind about their own safety, hence I presented a petition in the EP on their behalf," Metsola said. The 35-year old MEP highlighted how she made around 200 inter- ventions in the European Par- liament on jobs creation, SMEs, safeguarding of environment, con- sumer protection, immigration and healthcare. Metsola, a clear favourite to re- tain her EP seat in the upcoming May elections, was also chosen to present four EP reports about asy- lum and represented the EPP on another two reports. "During these 11 months, I also presented 65 Parliamentary Ques- tions which revolved around dis- crimination, female rights and media amongst others. I also met with 75 NGOs and participated in around 35 seminars and confer- ences as part of my commitment to keep in touch with civil society," Metsola added. Tampered smart meters: 60% belonged to businesses SOME 60% of the smart meters tampered by Enemalta installers to give misleading energ y read- ings, belonged to businesses, the corporation's CEO said yesterday morning on PBS's TVAM. Speaking on the breakfast TV show, Frederick Azzopardi said that at least t wo-thirds of the meters estimated to have been hacked belonged to businesses. It was estimated that some 1,0 0 0 meters could have been tampered, although the scale of hacked smart meters was never fully confirmed. Government opted to forgo any criminal steps against Enemalta clients who bribed Enemalta in- stallers, if they offer up informa- tion leading to charges against the bribed employees. At the time of the close of the six-week period given for this am- nest y, some 430 applicants had of- fered to pay all outstanding dues, inclusive of interest and penalt y. Azzopardi said the number could rise slightly because en- quiries continued to be made up to the end. Azzopardi said investigations were continuing. Enemalta is ex- pected to recover over €10m in lost revenue. The electorate can judge the government's performance through their vote