Labour Party canvassers reportedly urged people to apply for disability benefits by telling them the money was coming from an EU funds package – a portion of which was dedicated to infrastructure and the rest earmarked to be distributed among PL supporters.

Over the past weeks, beneficiaries told police this was one of several ways by which fixers were encouraging people to apply for benefits they were not entitled to. In return, the fixers would get thousands of euros in kickbacks.

“I was told I had nothing to worry about because the money was coming from a €5 million EU funds package,” one man told police.

“They told me €3 million of it was earmarked for the building of roads and infrastructure and the rest were to share among us, Labour voters.” Others, especially those who were perfectly healthy and were initially reluctant to apply for the scheme, felt comforted by the idea that the money was coming from the EU because it made them feel like they were not snatching it from the people, sources close to the investigation told Times of Malta.

Beneficiaries told police that people “well-connected” to the PL, a former Labour minister’s aide and officials “who would appear on TV in Labour activities” were spreading the scheme among dozens of people who were not entitled to the benefit.

A bottle of pills and PL ‘fixers’

In some cases, beneficiaries said they were given a bottle of pills to take to the board interview to fool doctors into thinking they have an illness, and in other cases they were assured the panel was “in on it”.

In one particular case, a man said he was referred to a canvasser from Castille and was allegedly threatened to keep his mouth shut.

The new details emerged as police continued to question dozens more people in the past weeks over suspicion that they took disability benefits they were not entitled to. Last month, Times of Malta revealed that ex-Labour MP Silvio Grixti was implicated in a years-long racket to help “hundreds” of people fraudulently receive monthly disability benefits they were not entitled to.

Evidence indicates Grixti, a popular family doctor, provided false medical documents to help people receive monthly social benefits averaging €450 for severe disabilities they did not suffer from.

So far, at least 160 people were found to have taken the benefits fraudulently, but police are still combing through hundreds more cases.

Sources close to the investigation said during interrogations in the last four weeks there was a significant increase in people who told police they got the benefit, not through Grixti, but through Labour Party fixers.

Most people who got the benefit this way say they never met or visited Grixti and they got all the medical documents from their fixer – which indicates the racket might have taken a life of its own and was also working independently from the doctor.

They’re all well-connected and have great power- beneficiary

Some beneficiaries said they sought to know more about the scheme after hearing other people discussing it at work or in a bar. Others were approached and lured into it when they were complaining about some issue with their friends or work colleagues.

A number of people said they were even sometimes persistently pushed to take up the scheme. In several cases, the deal came with one condition: the fixer gets a kickback of around €6,000.

Some people told police they were told to take the opportunity quickly before the money runs out.

“I was not comfortable accepting the offer straight away, until they told me if I pass up on the opportunity someone else will take the money and enjoy it instead of me,” one woman said.

“They told me, ‘if you can help yourself, go ahead’. And I applied, because doesn’t everyone want to help out their family?”

People hailing from the fourth district told police the scheme was the talk of the town around two years ago.

“Word was going around and everyone knew about it”.

One woman said she was told to apply for the scheme “because everyone is doing it”.

A few others said they were assured nobody would get caught because the Labour Party is powerful. They were told that they would continue to receive the benefit without problems as long as Labour remains in power.

In one particular case, a man said he was referred to a canvasser from Castille and was allegedly threatened to keep his mouth shut. Photo: Times of Malta

‘People in Castille were in on it’

One man told police at least some people in the Office of the Prime Minister were aware of the scheme because he was referred to a particular canvasser after a meeting at Castille. He said he had gone there to discuss a different matter.

“During the meeting, one man told me, ‘do you want to earn €450 and do nothing?’ Of course, I said, but is it legal? ‘Of course, it is,’ he said, and referred me to the canvasser,” the man told police.

“Another man who was present at the meeting later told me to keep my mouth shut and ran his thumb across his throat to show me that, and if I say something, he would get back at me.”

One of the individuals questioned also said he went to Grixti after hearing work colleagues say OPM officials were referring people to him from Castille.

‘Nothing to worry about’

Dozens of people told police they knew what they were doing was not right and it could land them in trouble if they get caught, but whenever they showed the slightest concern, the fixer would immediately dismiss their fears, insisting there is no way they could get caught.

A woman who had no illnesses but was blinded by the offer accepted to apply but was worried the medical board might see through her lie. But the fixer told her to relax because two of the three board members were in on it with them, and that is how he knew she would pass the interview for sure.

During the meeting, one man told me, ‘do you want to earn €450 and do nothing?’ 'Of course', I said, 'but is it legal?'

“He said there would be no trouble, and that calmed me and allowed me to be more confident when I appeared before the board,” she said.

“When I was before the board I can’t say I sensed that any of them were in on it, but there was an easy feeling. It only took a few minutes, they asked almost no questions, even though I looked perfectly healthy, and I was in and out in no time.”

Another man told police the fixer gave him a bottle of pills and told him to show it to the doctors on the medical board when he goes for the interview. If they ask, he was to say that was his medication to treat his epilepsy.

One recipient told police he was told €3 million had been earmarked for the building of roads and infrastructure and the rest were to share among Labour voters. Graphic: Times of Malta

Fixer would pester them for money

Several people described to police how, even after they started receiving benefit payments, they would sometimes go the first six, seven or even 13 months without keeping a cent.

They said each month they would immediately cash the benefit money and deliver it straight to the fixer, who would always get paid in cash.

Sometimes the fixer would call and pester them for the money. Days before the payments were due, he would call up the people saying the “money is coming in soon, don’t forget about me”.

Several beneficiaries said that now that they have been caught, they have returned to their fixer demanding a refund so that they can repay the social security department, only for the fixer to tell them the money has long been gone.

“I paid €6,000 and now I don’t even have €5 in my pocket, but I’m expected to pay the full amount. Where am I going to get those €6,000? Do you expect me to go steal?” one man told police.

“At least start going after the big fish so that we get the money they took from us,” another man said.

Some wanted to stop benefit

A handful of people told police that after they started getting the monthly payments, they remained uncomfortable about it and would ask the fixer to stop the benefit, but he would insist they had nothing to worry about.

One woman even went to the social security department and stopped the benefit herself because she was too afraid she would get caught. But then she met someone who was well-involved in the scheme who told her it was foolish to pass up €450 monthly, and she was persuaded to apply for the scheme again.

“I was going through a rough patch. It was a difficult time and I wasn’t strong enough so say ‘no’,” she said.

During the meeting, one man told me, ‘do you want to earn €450 and do nothing?’ Of course, I said, but is it legal? ‘Of course, it is,’ he said- beneficiary

Another woman said she felt so guilty about receiving the money that she would withdraw them from the bank and put them aside and never spend them, because she felt it was not right.

And when, in 2021, he heard on the news that Grixti resigned from parliament over suspected forged documents, another man went to visit the doctor to ask if he had everything “in order”.

“I had other illnesses so I was not sure whether I was eligible for the benefit, but I asked him anyway and told him to stop everything if my certificates were forged,” he said. “But he insisted my documents were all good and I had nothing to worry about.”

‘I won’t mention names, I have children’

Most beneficiaries refused to identify the people who helped them get the benefit, saying they feared for their family’s safety. The people who helped them get the benefits are violent and have no qualms in seeking revenge, they said, and they were terrified of the repercussions if they spilled the beans.

“They have the power and you won’t do anything to them. Not you, not even the commissioner,” one man told police. “They’re all well-connected and have great power.”