MEP David Casa has alerted key officials in EU institutions to the organised criminal racket implicating Labour supporters and government officials.
On Sunday, Times of Malta revealed that hundreds of people were being investigated for fraudulently claiming monthly benefit payments averaging €450, with Grixti implicated as having allegedly provided false medical documents to back up the claims.
Some 141 people have so far been ordered to return a total of €2.1 million in severe disability assistance benefits they were not entitled to. The figure is expected to grow.
Casa said the "sophisticated" benefit fraud scheme implicated members of the governing Labour Party.
“The facts of this case are simply revolting and Robert Abela has shown where his priorities lie in the fight against corruption,” Casa charged.
Addressing the key rule of law figures in the EU, Casa stressed that the criminal enterprise is not to be seen in isolation, but “joins a list of incessant, unresolved cases of wrongdoing, which the Maltese public has to endure on a daily basis.”
The only way this could have been accomplished, explained Casa, was through “government services being completely hijacked and systemically compromised so as to allow the fraud to proceed without question.”
Casa slammed the “concerted criminal effort to defraud the taxpayer and manipulate elections”, which has cost the taxpayer millions of euro. He emphasised that while hundreds of criminals were being quietly exposed, the big fish continued to elude prosecution two years after the racket was first detected.
Casa presented the case to the Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, vice-president Věra Jourová, and to the chair of the Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group within the European Parliament. He called for the facts to be taken seriously failing, any good faith action on the part of the Maltese government.
“The only traitors are those who betrayed their oath of public service, not only to tarnish their country's reputation, but to undermine the very processes on which our democracy is based. I will not be threatened by scoundrels and thieves in fulfilling my obligations to my electorate,” Casa stated.