‘Unless The Vehicles Are Splattered With Blood, Pass The Drivers’, Transport Malta Director Allegedly Told Examiner
Shocking details about how a Transport Malta director allegedly pressured driving examiners to pass certain applicants emerged in court today.
Driving examiner Roderick Cavallo was summoned as a witness as part of a court case against Transport Malta director Clint Mansueto and TM officials Raul Antonio Pace and Philip Edrick Zammit as part of a driving test racket.
Cavallo – who examined bus, car and motorcycle licenses – said Mansueto would sometimes instruct him to pass certain candidates, either verbally, by relaying messages through third parties, or by leaving notes on the application sheets of certain candidates.
On one occasion that Cavallo remembers, Mansueto instructed him to go easy on third-country nationals who had been brought to Malta to work as coach drivers.
He said that these applicants already had a driving license from their home country but still needed to be assessed on Malta’s roads. Mansueto allegedly passed Cavallo on the message to “pass the drivers unless the coaches return splattered with blood”.
Another time, Mansueto allegedly warned Cavallo that he will “have the minister to answer to” if a certain candidate failed the test. The minister wasn’t identified in court.
Other candidates were described as “tal-ministru” (the minister’s) or “tal-ministeru” (the ministry’s).
Clint Mansueto (Photo: TVM)
Cavallo said he felt scared of Mansueto, who he said would ask him how the selected candidates fared after the test and get angry if told that they had failed.
As such, he went along with his orders, avoiding busy roads as much as possible when testing Mansueto’s selected applicants to make life easier for them.
Cavallo said that he and other examiners eventually took a stand and reported Mansueto to their trade union, after which the requests dwindled and eventually stopped, with the last request coming in some three years ago.
However, he warned that Mansueto started treating them poorly afterward, cutting off communication with them and changing the requirements for certain job vacancies to render them ineligible.
As for the two other accused men, Cavallo said that Pace would sometimes convey Mansueto’s instructions while he couldn’t remember whether he ever received any instructions from Zammit.
All three men have been suspended from Transport Malta on half-pay and are pleading not guilty.
Inspector Wayne Borg and AG lawyer Abigail Caruana Vella are prosecuting, while Arthur Azzopardi and Clive Gerada are representing Mansueto, Joe Giglio and Roberta Bonello Felice are representing Pace and Herman Mula is representing Zammit.
Magistrate Rachel Montebello is presiding over the case.
Cover photo: Left – Stock image, Right: Suspended Transport Malta director Clint Mansueto
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