Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/326223
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 JUNE 2014 4 News PAGE 1 MaltaToday was told by a government source that in 2012, during the NAO audit and ques- tionnaire, Peter Grima had down- played the possibility of tampering with smart meters. According to the information received by the NAO, Enemalta claimed that "the logs of any such tampering gets recorded. These may be accessed at a later stage and discovered through data ana- lytics. In this regard, one should keep in view the fact that smart meters deployed have the func- tionality of comparing total billed against total generated power. A discrepancy of these figures raises an automatic alarm". The corporation submitted that the framework included physical and communications protectors against tampering, and that Ene- malta had audit trails in place with a process for surprise inspections. What transpired however was that Enemalta had at the time of this report, no active inspectors' unit and neither surprise inspec- tions, with no comparative checks on electricity generation going out, and whether this was being adequately bills. Furthermore, there was no audit trail and more importantly, no ef- fective 'automatic' alarm. Only some days ago, Grima was faced with these observations after an intense internal investigation in the organised racket of tampered smart meters continued inside En- emalta. When faced with questions on the breakdown in the security set- up of the introduced smart meters, Grima was said to have offered his immediate resignation. In the summer of 2013, Enemalta had obtained information about tampered meters, and by October it hit upon the first evidence that tampering had occurred. The investigation was run jointly by Enemalta Corporation and the police, with the scam being finally revealed in 2014. By May 2014 it was clear that the NAO's 2012 re- port, in which Enemalta's technical superiors had discounted the pos- sibility of tampered smart meters, had been extremely inaccurate and that the NAO had been misled. The estimated theft ran into mil- lions of euros, according to the energy ministry, although this has not yet been established. But gov- ernment claims the racket was or- ganised within a formal framework that included professional middle- men. Sources claim that Enemalta chairman Louis Giordimaina, who today is heading national air- line Air Malta, had also based his conclusions on the security of the smart meters in 2012 on advice of the corporation's chief technical officer. But Peter Grima's position was made more untenable, since in- ternal investigations at Enemalta could not reconcile the claim that the smart meter technology was "resilient and robust". Enemalta is said to be treating the matter seriously, given that the 2012 NAO report was presented to the House of Representative, with the misrepresentation of the facts possibly having led to those impli- cated in the scam to continue with their illicit activity for another two years. COURT NOTICE The Registrar, Civil Courts and Tribunals notifies that the First Hall of the Civil Court ordered the sale by judicial auction of the following property to be held in the corridors of the Courts of Justice, Republic Street, Valletta. Date, Time -Judicial Sale No Property 26 th June, 2014 11:30am - 6/2013 EGL • Apartment number one (1), in a block of apartments built instead of tenement number sixty two (62), Triq San Luqa, St. Paul's Bay subject to annual and perpetual ground rent of sixteen cents and four mils euro (! 0.16,4) as well as pro rata share of the common parts of the block valued at forty-five thousand euro (! 45,000). • Apartment number three (3) in a block of apartments built instead of tenement number sixty two (62), Triq San Luqa, St. Paul's Bay subject to annual and perpetual ground rent of sixteen cents and four mils euro (! 0.16,4) as well as pro rata share of the common parts of the block valued at seventy thousand euro (! 70,000). Further details can be obtained from the website: http://www.justiceservices.gov.mt/courtservices/JudicialSales/search.aspx The bidders taking part in the auction must present their identity card. Rudolph Marmara' For the Registrar of Civil Courts and Tribunals Enemalta told NAO in 2012 that smart meters were tamper-proof When faced with questions on the breakdown in the security set-up of the introduced smart meters, Peter Grima was said to have offered his immediate resignation – and claims that the meters were "resilient and robust" were belied by the investigations