A representative from the Office of the President is to exhibit in court the official document whereby hundreds of beneficiaries in the social benefits racket were to be pardoned.

The government had announced in April that those who fraudulently received benefits after falsely claiming severe disability were to be granted a presidential pardon as long as they reimbursed the funds and were prepared to testify in  court. 

The pardon did not apply to those who masterminded or operated the scheme, which is believed to have swindled some €6 million out of state coffers.

Doctor and former Labour MP Silvio Grixti and four other individuals are facing criminal charges over their alleged involvement in the racket.

Following the government’s official announcement hundreds of individuals applied for the pardon. Those applications were followed up by a letter in standard format from the Office of the President, issued under the signature of the President’s secretary. It declared that: “After due consideration” their request for the pardon “was being upheld by her Excellency The President of Malta….under the terms and conditions published in Press Releases No.240756 and No.240672.”   

However, lawyer Jason Azzopardi, who is assisting a number of beneficiaries who have been arraigned, told a court on Tuesday that the letter from the President’s Office could not substitute the pardon itself as an official signed document.

And no one had so far seen the formal pardon document. 

In light of such circumstances, the parties agreed that it was in the interests of both to clear the issue and consequently agreed to summon a representative from the Office of the President to exhibit and testify about the presidential pardon.