Twenty-two people out of 72 interrogated by the police in connection with a benefit fraud racket mentioned former MP Silvio Grixti, a court heard on Monday.
Police Inspector Andy Rotin testified that most of those interrogated had chosen not to answer questions and remain silent. But 22 named Grixti while another three named fellow defendant Luke Saliba, he said.
Grixti, Saliba and others stand accused of having played key roles in a wide-ranging benefit fraud racket which is alleged to have gone on for years.
The racket allegedly saw people receive fraudulent paperwork and medical diagnoses and then use those papers to be certified as severely disabled, entitling them to lifelong monthly benefit payments.
Grixti, a doctor and former Labour MP, is alleged to have played a leading role in the scheme. He and other defendants are all pleading not guilty to criminal charges.
Police began investigating Grixti and the broader racket in 2021 but nothing was known about it publicly until a Times of Malta expose in late 2023.
Inspectors told a court last year that they found various suspicious documents on Grixti’s laptop indicating he was fabricating paperwork for beneficiaries. Various benefit fraudsters also said under interrogation that Grixti was the person who handed them documents to present in their benefit applications.
During Monday’s sitting, defendant Roger Agius told the court that he has still not appointed a new lawyer after his former lawyer, Jason Azzopardi, renounced his brief.
Agius – a former canvasser of Grixti’s who publicly claimed last year that he had been offered legal protection if he dropped Azzopardi as a lawyer – told the court he did not want to be assigned a legal aid lawyer by the court.
He agreed to allow Monday’s court hearing to go ahead after being told that transcripts of testimonies would be made available to his eventual lawyer, for cross-examination purposes.
The case was adjourned to February 6.
Grixti was represented by defence lawyers Franco Debono and Arthur Azzopardi. Saliba was represented by lawyer Jose Herrera. Dustin Caruana and Emmanuel Spagnol were represented by lawyer Michael Scriha.
Police Inspectors Wayne Borg, Shaun Friggieri and Andy Rotin prosecuted with the help of Attorney General lawyers Charmaine Abdilla and Abigail Caruana Vella.
Magistrate Rachel Montebello presided over the court.