Fewer than one in five people in Malta have confidence in the police investigation into the fraudulent hospitals deal, according to a Times of Malta survey.
On the other hand, 45% say they have little or no confidence in the investigation, with a further 37% being ambivalent.
The survey, carried out by market research firm Esprimi, collected responses between March 9 and 16. It is based on a sample of 600 respondents with a margin of error of 4%.
PL voters evenly split
Confidence in the police investigation is clearly divided along party lines, with Labour voters showing significantly higher levels of confidence than either Nationalist Party voters or non-voters.
Nonetheless, almost as many PL voters say they don’t trust the investigation as those who say they do. Half of PL voters say they are undecided about the issue, with the remaining half evenly split between people who have confidence in the investigation and others who don’t.
Three-quarters of PN voters, on the other hand, are generally not confident in the investigation, with almost 60% saying they have no confidence at all. Only 6% say they have some degree of trust in the police investigation.
Non-voters show a similar lack of confidence in the investigation, with just 7% saying they trust it, compared to the 60% who do not. The remaining third remained non-committal.
Younger people more sceptical
The lack of confidence in the investigation remains consistent across all age groups. People between 45 and 54 show the lowest levels of confidence, with just 12% saying they have some degree of trust in the investigation.
Younger people are also distrustful of the situation, with just 14% of people under 35 showing some level of confidence. On the other hand, those over 65 have the highest level of confidence in the investigation at 24%
Gozitans more optimistic
Curiously, trust in the investigation is higher in Gozo than in Malta, with just over a third of Gozitans saying that they have some or total confidence in the police investigation. No other region in Malta had a trust level higher than 24%.
Gozo hospital was at the heart of the fraudulent deal, with the courts pointing to several failed contractual obligations including the construction of a regional primary care hub in Gozo and the modernisation of the Gozo General Hospital.
Despite the relatively high degree of confidence in Gozo, this is still eclipsed by the number of people who do not trust the investigation, with 44% of Gozitans saying they have little or no confidence in the police’s work on the issue.