Video Footage Of Shadow Minister’s Medical Certificate Racket Sent To Opposition Leader
Lovin Malta has sent Opposition leader Adrian Delia video footage which appears to show that shadow health minister Stephen Spiteri had signed medical certificates without even seeing his patients and had even signed one for a person who doesn’t exist.
This website received the video clip in recent days, in the wake of an interview with Delia, in which the PN leader said that he believes his shadow minister’s version of events but that he will take action against him if proof of wrongdoing emerges.
This clip appears to date back to November 2017 and shows two people calling up Spiteri’s Kalkara pharmacy to confirm they can leave their details along with €5 at the counter and pick up their medical certificates later. It also appears to show a man successfully using a pseudonym to get Spiteri to sign a medical certificate which would excuse him from work for three days. The receptionist can be seen retrieving this certificate from a folder which contained several other medical certificates.
Lovin Malta has decided not to publish the video clip at this stage.
The case goes back to 2017, when Lovin Malta published a telephone recording with Spiteri’s receptionist, who revealed a medical certificate racket at the shadow health minister’s Kalkara pharmacy.
Anyone requiring a medical certificate could simply leave their personal details along with €5 at the pharmacy and pick up the signed certificate later on, despite not having even seen Spiteri.
“Just come here and we’ll write a paper for him with your details, you pay €5 and then you come for it at about 7pm, tomorrow though, because he won’t be here,” the receptionist told Lovin Malta.
Asked what time Spiteri attended the pharmacy, the receptionist said: “At 10am but he never finishes them at that time because he’ll have many (to sign).”
However, Spiteri has denied the allegations, arguing that the phone call was held with his receptionist, “who was prompted and led on to tell the caller what he wanted to hear”.
The Medical Council launched an inquiry into the allegations, but its state is currently unknown.
During a recent interview, Delia said he doesn’t believe Spiteri committed any wrongdoing but that he will take action if it is proven that he has.
“I don’t think that Stephen Spiteri signed medical certificates for people he hadn’t seen and I’m not aware that there is any formal investigation which is ongoing,” he said. “When I last spoke to Spiteri about this a few months ago, he had given me assurances that made me feel comfortable, and yes, I am completely comfortable with Stephen Spiteri.”
“However, this is premised. If there’s any finding of illegality or untowardness, then there’s no two weights, two measures with me, that’s very simple.”
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