Inquiry sought into suspicious payments to former Transport Malta head

A formal application was filed on Wednesday calling for a magisterial inquiry into revelations of suspicious payments to a former PL CEO and an adviser hired by former prime minister Joseph Muscat’s government.

Times of Malta and other media organisations reported on Tuesday that  Shiv Nair, who was permanently blacklisted by the World Bank for fraud and corruption in 2000, was one of the focal points in a financial investigation into former Transport Malta CEO James Piscopo.

Investigators found Piscopo, a former Labour Party CEO, received “suspicious” consultancy payments in 2015, the same year Transport Malta oversaw the €35 million Kappara junction project and a new company took over the operations of Malta’s public bus service as part of a multi-million-euro contract.

The application for an inquiry was filed by Vicki Ann Cremona, president of rule of law NGO Repubblika, who said that it was the people's right to ask the institutions to investigate corruption.

"It is our duty to ensure that reportage that exposes journalists to danger is not allowed to gather dust, and the state acts to serve justice." 

Repubblika recalled that in 2022 Times of Malta reported that Keith Schembri, the former chief of staff of Joseph Muscat, had told Yorgen Fenech that James Piscopo had €600,000 stemming from illegal activities hidden away in foreign bank accounts.

On Tuesday, Times of Malta, Amphora Media and MaltaToday reported that after those allegations were made, police investigations revealed that Piscopo received suspicious payments in 2015. The €30,000 in payments were made when Piscopo was running Transport Malta. 

Piscopo has denied the allegations.  

The call for a magisterial inquiry was signed by lawyer Jason Azzopardi.