Updated 1.55pm with Silvio Grixti post

Stephen Spiteri believes a now-concluded investigation into allegations that he falsified medical certificates was part of a conspiracy to harm him.

“They came after me for particular reasons – cruel reasons,” the PN MP and doctor said on Saturday.

“I was targeted by someone. Maybe more than one person.”

Spiteri came under the spotlight in 2018 when a Lovin Malta investigation indicated that he was signing medical certificates for patients without having seen them.

In a recording published by the media outlet, a pharmacy worker told a journalist posing as a patient that he could leave his personal details at the pharmacy along with a €5 fee and collect a medical certificate signed by Spiteri the next day.

"He comes in at 10 but he never gets the certificates done at that time, because he'll have many," the worker told the journalist. 

The report sparked a Medical Council investigation that ultimately went nowhere: last June, before the council’s investigations were concluded, a court ruled that its proceedings breached Spiteri’s right to a fair hearing.

Both the council and attorney general opted not to appeal that decision. Police never pressed charges against Spiteri.

Spiteri touched on the topic during an interview with academic and radio host Andrew Azzopardi on RTK103, aired on Saturday morning.

The MP said the situation was “manipulated” against him and blamed unnamed individuals for targeting him in the case.

“I don’t like to call myself a victim, that’s a strong word. I think I was targeted by someone, perhaps two, three, four, five people,” he said, without elaborating.

When asked if he believed he was the victim of a conspiracy to ruin him, Spiteri agreed.

“It’s clear. There are many practising doctors. Why [target] Stephen Spiteri? They know I have a busy practice, that I do not concern myself with these trifles [tentufiet],” he said.

Grixti brings issue back to limelight

The allegations concerning Spiteri returned to public attention this week after fellow doctor and former MP Silvio Grixti publicly asked why the police had chosen not to investigate previous cases of benefits fraud.

In a cryptic post, Grixti noted that medical certificates issued by doctors entitled recipients to a sickness benefit, meaning their misuse constitutes fraud of that system.

The post is understood to have been an oblique reference to Spiteri's case, which never attracted police attention. 

Grixti is suspected of being at the heart of a major benefits racket that saw people obtain lifelong benefit payments through the use of falsified documents certifying them as suffering from a major disability.

The Żejtun doctor, who was made to resign as a Labour MP when police started investigating the racket, has not yet been charged with any crime.

Grixti further emphasised his grievances in a social media post he published on Saturday afternoon, following Spiteri's interview.

"Do you know what you didn't ask, Mr Azzopardi," he wrote, addressing radio show host Andrew Azzopardi. "Why did police never investigate him?"

Speaking during his interview on Saturday and without making reference to any particular case, Spiteri argued that not all forms of certificate fraud are equal.

“You have to see the gravity of the situation and the weight those certificates carry,” he said. “Is a person being certified sick for one day, or three months? If a teacher tells me ‘I have a migraine’, I cannot verify that. There has to be some trust between patient and doctor.”

Spiteri: I believe in resolving issues through dialogue

Discussion about Spiteri’s Medical Council worries came at the tail end of his interview with Azzopardi.

Earlier in the interview, Spiteri – the PN’s health spokesperson - sidestepped a question about why he was not present at PN press conferences about the fraudulent hospitals deal, saying the health sector is “extremely vast” and that he was at the party’s disposal.

Spiteri said Malta was lacking adequate health infrastructure, rather than doctors, and warned about an "overloaded" public health system that could not cope with demand. 

He said he was on cordial terms with Health Minister Chris Fearne, having worked together at the now-closed St Luke's Hospital, and often spoke to him to flag health-related issues. 

"I believe in resolving issues through dialogue, not by hurling insults on the media or causing disquiet in parliament," he said. "That's what often happens but it's not my style of politics."