Clint Mansueto, Raul Antonio Pace, and local councillor Philip Edrick Zammit were charged in court earlier this week. Yet, they fervently deny the charges.

All three have since been suspended from the authority.

Mansueto reportedly claimed under interrogation that he was “pressured” to pass someone as they were “working at a villa belonging to a government minister”.

His chats reportedly reveal connections with a political party that told them which candidates should pass their test.

Neither the political party nor the minister was named in court.

Abela has defended his ministers when asked questions about the allegations.

Meanwhile, when asked about whether he had spoken to his ministers about the court claims and charges, Abela insisted that he was uninformed of any investigation into any ministers, according to Times of Malta.

“No minister has been criminally charged or accused of wrongdoing. Nor am I am informed of any investigations concerning any minister,” he said.

Abela went one step further and “categorically denied” that the Labour Party has any involvement in these claims of corruption.

“There is no organised system by the Labour Party in the way you are describing.”

To add to this, when asked if he had ever spoken with the suspects, Abela denied ever conversing with Mansueto. However, he failed to mention whether he had spoken to either Pace or Zammit – the co-accused.

However, more recent claims also revealed that corruption within Transport Malta is buried far deeper than what this court case reveals.

At present, police are sifting through over 200 names contained in two diaries between 2020 and 2021 that they believe acted as ledgers for alleged corruption in this case.

The diaries contain the names of people suspected of having received favourable treatment.

Examiners, who spoke to Lovin Malta on condition of anonymity, claimed that Clint Mansueto, the now-suspended director of driver permit testing and training, ruled over the section with an iron fist, making the lives of those who refused to follow his orders hell.

They claimed that corruption extended well beyond theory tests, suggesting that particular instructors who were close to Mansueto received favourable treatment when their students went for their driving tests. This included shorter times and easier, less-demanding routes.

Sources insisted that issues were raised internally over the actions of Mansueto and other collaborators. However, these were routinely ignored, while those who spoke up were isolated and treated poorly for doing so.

Do you think Abela was uninformed about investigations?