Two people involved in the benefits racket scandal do not want to be put under health examinations that will reveal whether their conditions warranted receiving benefits.
On Thursday, a court presided by Magistrate Rachel Montebello heard defence lawyers representing Luke Saliba and Roger Agius ask a court-ordered examination of the accused be revoked.
Together with doctor and former labour MP Silvio Grixti and two others, Agius and Saliba are being charged with playing a key role in a racket that 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.
Co-defendants Agius, Saliba, Emmanuel Spagnol and Dustin Caruana allegedly acted as agents or go-betweens, raking in payments from successful beneficiaries.
Saliba and Agius also benefitted as 'patients', with defence lawyer Jose Herrera saying the results of health examinations could be self-incriminating.
AG lawyer Charmaine Abdilla asked for more time to respond to this revocation request, however, she added that the results of this examination would be crucial evidence.
She noted that the defence could have brought up its reservations about the health examination when the tests were initially ordered.
Police investigations on Grixti began in 2021. But it was not until a Times of Malta exposé in 2023, that details about the racket were made public.
In a previous sitting, a court heard how 22 people out of the 72 interrogated by the police mentioned Grixti.
Inspectors have also told a court that they found multiple suspicious documents on Grixti’s laptop.
Defence lawyers Arthur Azzopardi, Franco Debono and Jacob Magri represented Grixti.
Defence lawyers Micheal Sciriha, Lucio Sciriha and Roberto Spiteri represented Caruana and Spagnol.
Defence lawyers Mario and Nicholas Mifsud represented Agius.
Defence lawyers Josè Herrera and Matthew Xuereb are representing Saliba.
Lawyer Charmaine Abdilla from the Attorney General’s office, as well as Inspector Ispetturi Andy Rotin, Wayne Borg and Shaun Friggieri prosecuted.
Lawyer Anita Giordimaina was parte civile for the Social Security Department.