The Justice Minister struggled to defend the government’s dismissal of a driving test scandal during an interview on Saturday.

Jonathan Attard argued that politicians were duty-bound to help citizens “within the parameters of the law” as he sought to downplay the scandal as part of Malta’s political system.

But when RTK 103 radio host Andrew Azzopardi pressed him to explain how exactly a minister could “help” a candidate whose test date was already set, the minister stumbled.

As Azzopardi rattled off examples of text messages exposed by Times of Malta last week, the minister switched tack and emphasised an ongoing court case related to the scandal.

“I’m not going to discuss who sent what,” Attard said.

“But there are court proceedings under way. I would worry if there weren’t any.”

Times of Malta revealed last week how Transport Malta’s former director of licensing Clint Mansueto received requests to “help” candidates from all across government, including minister Ian Borg and his close aides, as well as his Transport Malta bosses.

While police have pressed charges against Mansueto and two of his subordinates, they have not prosecuted anyone else in connection with the racket. One of the people who regularly texted Mansueto, his boss Pierre Montebello, served as the police’s liason on the case.

Attard implied that Times of Malta had exposed the scandal in an attempt to divide politicians from the electorate and was making a situation “bigger than it is”.

“I was a journalist,” Attard, who previously worked for Labour’s media arm ONE, said.

“I remember similar situations under Nationalist governments. They are trying to turn this situation into a massive issue to stop people from being close to politicians.”

'What media crisis?'

Attard also had a dig at the media in his 10-minute intervention on Azzopardi’s talk show, saying he was looking forward to seeing broader public consultation of media reform proposals, rather than just hearing the views of stakeholders themselves.

“Lawyers complain that the €10,000 maximum penalty for libel is not high enough,” he said.

“I hope these lawyers now take part in this public consultation.”

He lashed out at critics of the government’s media reform proposals, saying they were quick to criticise but then did not even bother to take part in consultation when it was held.

“They say there’s a media crisis in Malta,” he said. “What crisis? Everyone writes what they like here in Malta.”

Says committee held up lawyers' vetting process

Earlier in the show, Attard said newly graduated lawyers who have spent months waiting for their warrants had a committee chaired by former chief justice Silvio Camilleri to blame.

Attard said he had written a letter to Camilleri in the summer, asking for an update on the vetting process that his committee is responsible for and offering additional resources to speed up the process, if they were needed.

He never heard back, he said.

The minister said he now intended to amend the law to impose strict time frames on such processing.

Around 100 newly-graduated lawyers remain unable to practice their profession after a months-long battle between the Camilleri-led committee and Attard, who refused to sign off on a vetting questionnaire that required applicants to disclose personal information such as whether they have any disabilities, any civil suits they are party to or whether they had an addiction issue within the previous 10 years.