Top Labour Party officials have refused to say whether former MP Silvio Grixti is still a party member, almost two years after police started investigating him in connection with a years-long benefit fraud racket.
During a press conference on Tuesday, PL president Ramona Attard and deputy leader Daniel Micallef were asked repeatedly whether Grixti was still a member of the party.
But both party officials did not answer. Instead, they initially ignored a question about Grixti's party membership status, then exited the press conference when pressed about the matter.
Grixti, a family doctor and PL MP between 2017 and 2021, was forced to resign months before the 2022 general election.
The PL never provided an official reason for his resignation, but Times of Malta reported that he was interrogated by the police over an investigation into irregular medical sick notes.
Earlier this month, Times of Malta revealed that Grixti is suspected of being at the heart of an extensive benefits scam that saw many millions of euros defrauded from the government.
The scam saw hundreds of people being given forged documents, making them eligible for monthly disability payments.
Aside from Grixti, some beneficiaries have reported that Labour Party canvassers were also involved in the racket and received kickbacks.
Is PL probing the racket?
Asked if the Labour Party is conducting internal investigations into the matter, Attard said that the police are investigating the case.
"We will wait for those investigations, and we will let those investigations proceed," she said.
The Labour Party has the necessary structures to investigate its members, should it wish to do so.
An organ within the party, the Commission for the Safeguarding of Ethics and Discipline, "has the duty to investigate the behaviour of any member, official, candidate, councillor, member of parliament, or member of the Europen member of parliament," the PL's statute states.
The ethics commission can be asked to investigate or investigate on its own accord, the statute says.
Asked whether the ethics commission has taken any action, Attard repeated that the party will allow investigations to continue, and after those investigations, the party can "further their discussions".
In a statement later, the Nationalist Party accused Labour of escaping journalist's questions instead of tackling the fraud created by the party.
"It is increasingly disgraceful that the Labour leadership is throwing dirt at others, but it does not respond to this theft and fraud which has sparked outrage among all the Maltese and Gozitan people," the party said in a statement.