Thursday August 21, 2008 MYT 7:04:55 PM
TNB brushes off claims of RM1bil-a-month power thefts
PETALING JAYA: Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) has dismissed claims that it is losing up to RM1bil a month to power thieves.
The power company said the claims made by the Civil Movement Against Corruption (Gerak) were baseless as the figure was “not reasonable.”
“TNB believes this issue came up because of dissatisfied informants. There are cases where information was given to us but we still need to investigate their validity,” the company said in a statement Thursday.
Expressing its disappointment with Gerak for not coming to it with a complaint, TNB said legal action would not be ruled out to determine if the movement’s statements could be deemed defamatory.
The company said various measures, including surprise checks on premises, had been implemented to weed out power thieves over the years and since 2004, some two million premises had been checked.
As a result, 42,272 cases of power thefts had been identified. Of that, a total of 2,304 were issued notices of demand while 390 were issued summonses to recover the losses from the thefts.
In addition, there are also 26 cases in court being prosecuted under the Electricity Supply Act 1990 for power thefts.
On the payment for whistleblowers, TNB maintained that it had always rewarded those who had come forward with genuine tip-offs, adding that the payment was not governed by law but was the company’s own initiative to encourage people to come forward with information.
The company called on Gerak to provide concrete proof about its allegations of power theft collusion so that action could be taken against those guilty of it.
Gerak had, on Wednesday, urged the Prime Minister to investigate claims of power theft collusion among TNB’s top officials which had allegedly resulted in the company losing up to RM1bil a month.
The movement claimed that TNB officials were aware of the thefts that had been going on for years and had failed to take any action against the culprits, who included hotels, factories, businesses and even individuals.
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