To understand the malign handling of the social security fraud it pays to go back to December 2021. That’s when Silvio Grixti, a GP and a Labour backbencher, resigned. Malta Today, which broke the story, said that its sources had suggested “fraudulent sickness certificates”.

To you and me that hinted at nothing more than some malingerer showing up at Grixti’s practice, asking to skive work for a few days and Grixti signing off the certificate claiming sick leave for an imagined minor ailment. Wrong and against the law, of course, but we all thought it was nothing more than one doctor exercising poor judgement for the sake of his political career.

Grixti resigned. But that’s when the government discreetly got to work. In a scene akin to the aftermath of a killing in a mafia movie, the ‘cleaners’ moved in with the objective of leaving the place without a trace of blood the day after.

The hundreds of cases of benefit fraud were carefully distributed among different magistrates as thinly as possible and fraudsters, having been caught, were asked for nothing more than to reimburse the money they stole and quietly handed suspended sentences.

It took courage and commitment of Times of Malta journalists to reveal the traces of blood of a complex crime spanning millions of euros and up to 700 cases, according to some reports.

Let’s not beat around the bush. Grixti was no more than the equivalent of the receptionist at the front desk – the most visible, the convenient fall guy. There was evidently a whole organisation behind him, churning out falsified medical and non-medical documents with the efficiency of a printing press. Given the nature of the documents, these couldn’t have been the work of outsiders with no contact whatsoever with other people in the know in different government entities.

Which is why the prime minister’s “no sitting Labour MP is involved” is not only no reassurance, it’s just outright ridiculous. There are more than 43 MPs militating in the Labour Party, including an army of loyalists in secretariats, in the so-called customer care services and as persons of trust. The prime minister doesn’t even have to know what’s going on when there are so many minions doing the dirty work for him.

Did he? Martin Balzan, president of the Medical Association of Malta and one of the victims whose signature was forged on a document for a person who was not his patient, described this as “organised crime”.

A fraud of this proportion requires both careful planning and centralised coordination- Peter Agius

Fraud of this proportion requires both careful planning and centralised coordination. A far call from one family doctor signing sick leave certificates.

For this to have happened, it required a culture that is desensitised to wrongdoing.

When it comes to laws, our country usually does very well. We have laws against fraud. Laws against trading in influence. Even laws regulating the financing of political parties. However, for Labour and its supporters, following the rules is for losers and staying honest is for fools.

Five years ago, the Netherlands had its social security scandal. It led to the collapse of the government and early election. Politically, the matter is far from over. Peter Omzigt – whom I’m sure the Labour Party remembers well – set up a political party whose central promise is social security reform. The latest surveys show it is the most popular by far.

And Malta? No doubt, the cover-up will continue. Confidentiality of police investigations will be cited, no one higher than Grixti will get questioned, cases will sail quietly through the courts.

The truly sad thing would be if we’ve become so desensitised to government wrongdoing that we’ll all let it pass by. We will not. The good governance agenda in this country rises in people’s priorities every time another corruption case breaks out.

Our anger is piling up. We now have to find new ways how to convert our collective anger into useful and positive energy for change. Let us not be divided on this. Let us not be distracted.

Peter Agius

Let us never be complacent to organised crime.

Peter Agius is a former head of the European Parliament Office in Malta.

kellimni@peteragius.eu