MEP and member of the EPP group David Casa has called out Prime Minister Robert Abela saying that he “greenlit institutionalised criminality.”

Casa addressed the Council of Europe with strong words against Abela, censuring two rackets revealed recently in Malta. 

“Evidence exposed over the last weeks shows widespread corrupt voter manipulation across government entities for the purpose of manipulating elections,” Casa claimed.

Here, Casa was referring to the “vote-buying scandal” that gave disability benefits to people who weren’t entitled to them, as well as allegations regarding driving licenses being issued to “win votes for the governing party.”

“Both schemes show a pattern of hijacked national institutions that are geared to achieving partisan ends at the expense of the taxpayer and the safety of citizens.”

“This is incompatible with the proper functioning of a democracy. What is worse is that over the weekend the Maltese Prime Minister called on those responsible to continue working as they have done before.”

“While those who benefitted from payments for disabilities they did not have and the front-line operators of the corrupt licensing scheme are being criminally prosecuted, those who masterminded and ordered the corrupt practices are not only being shielded from prosecution but are being encouraged to continue.”

Casa concluded by saying that these scandals mark a “new low” in the state of the rule of law in Malta before urging the Council of Europe to take this into account when conducting its work.

Similarly, The Malta Employers Association released a statement on the same two scandals, saying that Abela’s “pronouncement in this respect is a radical invitation to anarchy which encourages individuals and businesses to bypass what should be established and trusted structures to either get fast-tracked to obtain what they are eligible for, or worse, to acquire entitlements which they should never have at the expense of others.

The national Insurance Association also spoke out against the driver’s license scheme, showing concern about the danger that licenses granted to candidates without the proper skills pose on the island’s roads.

It further called for such drivers to redo their practical test.

“While the court case relating to the authority officials progresses, it is essential that Transport Malta does not await its outcome and take immediate action to identify these drivers and require redo their driving test.  Failure to do so will result in a serious drop in confidence in the validity of driving tests in Malta and a continuing unacceptable increase in risk to all road users of being involved in an accident caused by such drivers.”

What do you make of these comments?