“This is the first time that I’ll be talking about this in public in such detail,” Azzopardi told Mallia, going on to say that this system – created after 2014 by the Labour government – was “coordinated to the finest detail and involving a lot of the ministers, also involving the Office of the Prime Minister, also involving high-ranking officials of the Labour Party.”

Not providing any concrete names, Azzopardi said a large number of political figures were involved… going on to provide a generic example of how the “conspiratorial web” works.

“Let’s say Jon Mallia has an upset stomach, and also happens to be complaining agains the government,” Azzopardi began, saying people like this would be approached before elections such as the Local Council or MEP Elections after expressing that they won’t be voting (even the General Election).

“The Labour Party has a very well organised central nervous system, so the complaints get channelled up quite quickly. So I would hypothetically pass on the message that Jon Mallia has an upset stomach and does not plan on voting for us in the upcoming election, then a criminal conspiracy kicks off, where I’d be given the go-ahead by a minister or an OPM customer care official to approach Jon.”

Azzopardi then detailed a bargaining negotiation which would end in “a proposal” for these people to be offered “around €450 per month on the quiet”.

“No one can touch Labour. No one can do anything to Labour,” Azzopardi said, allegedly quoting “verbatim” phrases told by these officials while trying to convince disenchanted voters.

The system, Azzopardi claims, had people being sent to places with envelopes to sit down in front of a Social Security board in Santa Venera. In a matter of a few minutes following the meeting, Azzopardi claims, these people will be entitled to some €400 per month, benefits which would kick off some four months later after their application would’ve been processed. “For you to be entitled to the highest level of benefits over severe disability, the €400 per month scheme, you need to have specific conditions which three different professors and consultations would need to confirm.”

Among the conditions, Azzopardi said, are spina bifida, epilepsy involving more than four monthly episodes, lupus and some five or six others.

“There are ministers themselves who recommended people into this system,” Azzopardi said, going on to claim that these three required certificates would have the professors’ forged signatures.

Nearly 900 individual cases have allegedly been discovered from 2020 onwards, with some 100 to 150 people already being brought to court. “And more cases are being discovered on a weekly basis.”

“It was even quicker during COVID, because it was just a matter of a phone call,” Azzopardi went on.

“These are hardcore Labourites,” Azzopardi clarified, echoing a conclusion by Mallia and continuing to say these are people who “definitely won’t vote now that their police conduct is tainted” and some are being ordered to “return the stolen money”.

This conspiracy claim, which Azzopardi said he’s “very sure of”, has cost Malta some €16 million, with some individuals close to the government being told by “middlemen” and “runners” to hand in a cut of their benefits during the first months.

A detailed court report published by the Times of Malta over the weekend corroborated Azzopardi’s claims, putting ex-Labour MP Silvio Grixti at the heart of years-long racket. Evidence seen by the newsroom seems to point at the popular family doctor provided false medical documents to a number of people – particularly from Labour strongholds like Żabbar, Żejtun and Paola.

“Police, with little fanfare, have over the past weeks and months been charging dozens of claimants who benefitted from the racket,” the report reads, saying “the majority of those arraigned in court have admitted to the charges and agreed to return their ill-gotten gains, thus getting off with a suspended sentence for defrauding the government.”

“That man at Castille and Grixti were angels to me because I was so desperate at the time,” one unemployed woman allegedly said of the whole racket and her involvement in the benefit scheme.

Grixti – who resigned from parliament back in December 2021 after being detailed and questioned by police in connection with these allegations – has not provided a comment on the situation as of yet.

In the meantime, the full Jon Mallia episode featuring Jason Azzopardi can be watched here.

What do you make of these allegations? Sound off in the comments below.