A whistleblower told a court on Monday that Transport Malta’s director of licensing would give him lists of driving test candidates and told him to help them pass their theory exam.

Some of the candidates worked “in a minister’s villa” and there was pressure “from high up” for them to pass the test.

Adel Ali Hassan, who worked as a translator with TM, testified via video link and said that Clint Mansueto would “pressure” him to help candidates pass their theory exam. He said Mansueto, Transport Malta’s director of licensing, threatened to fire him if he did not comply.

“He [Mansueto] said these are people who have to pass. He said he was under pressure from people in high places and they had to pass one way or another,” said the whistleblower.

“Mansueto told me he had to pass an Albanian and a Pakistani and others because they worked in the villa of the minister. However, he did not mention the name of the minister.”

Earlier on Monday, the whistleblower said that Mansueto also mentioned a test candidate who had to pass “to get votes for Minister Ian Borg”. 

The man had emailed information to the police in 2020 about the alleged racket, triggering investigations that ultimately led to criminal charges against Mansueto, and his two subordinates Raul Antonio Pace and Philip Edrick Zammit, who are pleading not guilty to corruption. 

They allegedly gave a helping hand to some candidates for the driving test.

The court, presided by Magistrate Rachel Montebello, last September accepted his request to testify in the proceedings against the three men via video link.

He first took the stand last month but his testimony was short-lived on account of a language difficulty that became all too apparent as the witness spoke in Maltese with a heavy Arabic accent. He also declined to give his location for his own safety.

On Monday, the whistleblower, assisted by lawyer Jason Azzopardi, testified again with an interpreter who translated from Arabic to Maltese.  

He said he came to Malta in November 2006 and lived here for about 15 years. He worked as an interpreter with Transport Malta from the end of November 2015 until September 2020 and translated into Arabic, French and Italian.

Mansueto, Pace or Zammit and another person who resigned – a man called Luke – would send him an email, a week or two before his services were needed.

The email would include the list of candidates who needed a translator and their preferred languages. He would then give them his availabilities.

His job entailed him reading out and translating questions for foreign candidates in the theory part of the driving test. His payment varied according to the test category.

He received €60 for each test in categories A to D and €90 for trucks and large vehicles, explaining that those tests took longer. He got paid in his HSBC account after he presented a list of jobs and invoices.

'Mansueto would pay me in cash for names on list'

Asked about alleged shortcomings by TM staff, he said he started noticing shortcomings in July 2020: "There was over-preaching and pressure by Mansueto. He would pressure me to help certain people during the test to get the right answer.

"He would call or send a message and say: ‘come soon to my office because I want to talk to you’. He would give me a list with names of people. He would pay me in cash for the people who were on the list,” he added.

Mansueto asked him not to include the names of these candidates in the list he presented for payment. He would, however, pay him in cash. 

The amount he was paid, for such cases, started decreasing.

He recalled instances when a candidate would pay €200 but Mansueto would keep €50 and hand the whistleblower the rest of the money to cover two translation jobs. 

This happened several times in July, August and September 2020.

The whistleblower said he passed the candidates because Mansueto threatened to get him fired if he did not.

Asked what led to the termination of his employment at TM, the whistleblower said that on September 23 there was a mistake in the shift calendar.

He turned up for a job and found a man called Philip carrying out translations for some Arab-speaking candidates. Philip did not speak or understand a word of Arabic. 

“At that moment I realised there was a legal and moral obligation and the next day I went to speak to Mr Clint [Mansueto]… I asked him how Philip could translate when he did not understand Arabic. I was suspended because he felt I was a threat,” he said. 

At the end of the sitting lawyer Joseph Giglio, appearing for Pace, questioned why police had charged his client – a clerk who simply delivered files – but did not charge the whistleblower who admitted to taking payments. 

AG lawyer Abigail Caruana Vella and Inspector Wayne Borg prosecuted.

Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Jacob Magri assisted Mansueto.

Lawyer Joe Giglio assisted Pace. Lawyer Herman Mula assisted Zammit.