Police have filed charges against a former Education Ministry official accused of bribery. 

Charges against Edward Caruana, a former Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools official who also spent years working as a canvasser for Education Minister Evarist Bartolo, were booked into the court register some days ago. 

Mr Caruana was not charged under arrest, with police instead choosing to prosecute by court summons. 

Sources said the case has yet to be assigned to a magistrate, with the first assignee, magistrate Joe Mifsud, having abstained himself. 

READ: Police sit on evidence of six-figure fraud 

Mr Caruana, 57, stands accused of having taken bribes as a public official, as well as having abused his authority and falsifying documents. 

The accusations date back to the summer of 2016, when Mr Caruana allegedly demanded money from contractors in exchange for speeding up payments of money owed to them by FTS. 

A Gozitan contractor has claimed that Mr Caruana asked for €30,000 in relation to payment of works on a sixth form in Victoria. 

At the same time, the Times of Malta had revealed that Mr Caruana was developing a block of apartments in Rabat. 

Last December, then-FTS boss Philip Rizzo quit the post, claiming Education Minister Evarist Bartolo had failed to act despite being warned about Mr Caruana's illicit activity. Mr Bartolo has denied the claims. 

Mr Rizzo had also prepared a 200-page report about the fraud suspicions, complete with false invoices and other evidence, and handed it to police. 

Mr Caruana.