The people deserve to know how and why nearly 7,000 visas were issued to Algerian people in 18 months, the shadow minister for home affairs, Beppe Fenech Adami, said today.

Speaking at a press conference, he said that despite having raised his concerns in Parliament yesterday, the Minister for Home Affairs had failed to reply.

It was clear, he said, that these Algerian people only came to Malta so that they could then proceed to mainland Europe. That was shown by the way how flights from Algeria always used to be full but flights from Malta to Algeria hardly had any passengers, he said.

It was becoming apparent, he said, that there was a racket in this area.

Dr Fenech Adami also called on the minister to investigate whether there was corruption in the procurement of cars by the police force.