A former driver and canvasser for junior minister Andy Ellul is set to be charged with forming part of a “criminal organisation” linked to the social benefits racket.

Roger Agius is set to face a raft of charges, including money laundering, for his alleged role in the racket.

Doctor and ex-Labour MP Silvio Grixti, who signed off on fraudulent medical certificates, will also be charged with forming part of a criminal organisation, fraud and money laundering.

Evidence indicates Grixti provided false medical documents to help people, often hailing from Labour strongholds, to receive social benefits averaging €450 monthly for severe disabilities they did not suffer from.

Agius was a former canvasser and driver for Grixti before being roped in to help Ellul for the March 2022 election.

The switch came after Grixti was arrested and forced to resign as a Labour MP in December 2021.

Prime Minister Robert Abela co-opted Ellul into parliament to fill Grixti’s seat, and Ellul then went on to contest the doctor’s Żejtun district in the 2022 election.

Agius was subsequently given a position-of-trust job within Ellul’s secretariat.

Ellul said last year that he was not informed of any alleged abuse by Agius at the time he was hired. He said Agius resigned as his driver in early 2023.

Apart from his suspected role in introducing people into the benefits racket, Agius is also suspected to have falsely claimed to suffer from a severe disability, which should have seen him surrender his driver’s licence.

Times of Malta last year interviewed three benefits recipients, including a man who said a Labour Party canvasser and a former minister’s aide lured him into the benefits fraud racket in return for his vote and a kickback amounting to a year’s worth of benefits.

An internal inquiry by the social policy ministry into how disability benefits are awarded was opened in September, following Times of Malta’s revelations.

Social Policy Minister Michael Falzon told parliament in January that the inquiry board had requested an extension “of a few weeks” to conclude its report.

The prime minister had never publicly disclosed the reason behind Grixti’s forced resignation.

He claims the racket was first flagged to the police by the Office of the Prime Minister back in 2021.

This has led the opposition to question why an inquiry was only set up in September 2023.