Malta’s Green Party ADPD affirmed that Rosianne Cutajar was right when she said everyone in the Labour Party is pigging out, in reaction to the driver’s license racket that shook the nation.

“People need to understand that if they remain hostage to the system of clientelism perpetuated by the PL and the PN over the years things will not change. Vote differently if you want things to change. Only then will the other parties understand,” Ralph Cassar, ADPD’s Secretary General said during a press conference outside Transport Malta.

“Rosianne Cutajar was right when she said, about her friends, that everyone is pigging out. The problem is that she was part of the problem too, seeking to pig out as well.”

ADPD referred to a previous slew of leaked Whatsapp chats between Cutajar and Yorgen Fenech, the prime suspect behind the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder, released earlier this year. In one of the messages, Cutajar expresses her desire to boost her income from the public sector, telling Fenech that she will “become a consultant with ITS because everyone is pigging out”

Cutajar eventually resigned from the Labour Party and remains an Independent MP.

The Whatsapp messages revealed prove that all those involved were engaged in a “favours for votes” secret scheme.

“They knew they were using their political influence to grant favours. It is disgraceful that the Prime Minister tries to cover this up and is not man enough to admit that this is pure and unabashed clientelism: a corrupt abuse of political power. Robert Abela has the strength to change the way politics is done but instead, he tells us that for him this conspiracy of favours is normal,” Sandra Gauci, ADPD Chairperson said.

“The messages exchanged over WhatsApp among Transport Malta officials, several Labour supporters in the secretariat of the Ministry of Transport, Minister Ian Borg, supporters, delegates and Labour canvassers in Transport Malta, the Ministry for Gozo and that of Transport, and even in PBS and in Castile confirm that there is a whole conspiracy to dish out favours. Instead of a politics based on rights, we have a politics based on patronage.”

Gauci warned that not only is it corrupt to grant licenses without merit, but also dangerous.

“It seems that it is acceptable for Robert Abela that people who are not yet able to drive are, because of their loyalty to Labour be granted a car licence! It is worth reminding the Prime Minister that a car is also a weapon if used incorrectly,” she said.

“In fact according to NSO figures in 2022 we had 28 deaths on the roads, 19 deaths more than the previous year. We also had 1,341 accidents in which people were injured. One shudders to think that some of those deaths and accidents are the result of institutionalised clientelism with the blessing of the Prime Minister.”

Earlier today, rule of law group Repubblika has written to the police to prosecute seven people connected to the driving license racket, who contacted Transport Malta’s Clint Mansue to help pass candidates.

Failure to do so, the letter read, would lead to the group taking legal action against Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa’.

The letter was signed by lawyer Jason Azzopardi.

The scandal

The scandal involves pressure placed on Transport Malta (TM) by the Transport Ministry to help candidates obtain driving licenses. WhatsApp chats acquired by the newsroom even show OPM officials connecting the practice to wanting to win votes.

Similarly, one examiner was told that he would have to answer to the minister if a bus-driving candidate failed.

More chats revealed Borg, his canvasser, and his ministry regularly applying pressure on TM’s director of licensing Clint Mansueto to help candidates with their tests, some of whom came from Borg’s electoral districts.

Hundreds of candidates were passed on to Mansueto to fast-track their tests and for help to secure a driving license, according to the Times of Malta.

Chats further showed that some candidates were told not to allow their driving instructor to be present in the vehicle during the exam, to make the corruption easier to execute.

Requests for driving license aid ranged from an OPM VVIP client to candidates who lacked the skills to pass.   

Mansueto, as well as two TM clerks,  Philip Edrick Zammit, and Raul Antonio Pace, face corruption and trading in influence in connection with the scheme; charges which they deny.

It was reported that state officials would highlight names of candidates to Mansueto, who was prosecuted in August 2022,  who would then assign those candidates to easy examiners or move them up the notoriously long and slow queue for a driving test. The two clerks allegedly complied.

In reaction, several politicians and activists alike are speaking up, calling for the minister’s resignation and pointing out the seemingly unavoidable corruption flowing through Prime Minister Robert Abela’s administration.

Who should be held responsible for this scandal?