Condemnations of Malta’s latest scandalous racket continues… this time from one of the medical professionals whose signatures were forged in order for people to claim monthly disability benefits they did not deserve, supposedly all in the name of political favours

“The scale of this suggests it came from above… to me, this sounds like organised crime,” Medical Association of Malta president Martin Balzan told Times of Malta following the reports of the scandal emerging on Sunday.

Balzan is believed to have had his signature forged on around six or seven documents – documents which allowed people to claim monthly benefits of around €450.

“This is wrong. Cheating the system is wrong. That money is for people who are seriously disabled.”

“Large numbers of my colleagues have been affected and it seems that seven or eight documents may have been forged at a time,” Balzan continued. “Certain things were blatant and it happened to a lot of specialists. None of them were my patients and this seems to be the case for my colleagues.”

One of the medical professionals whose signatures are required for such benefits to be handed out, Balzan is the lead respiratory physician at Mater Dei Hospital, a senior lecturer at the University of Malta and also the vice president of the main EU doctors’ lobby, the Standing Committee of European Doctors.

This latest fraud racket – which was detailed in a report by the Times of Malta over the weekend – was broken down by prominent lawyer Jason Azzopardi during a five-hour conversation on Jon Mallia’s podcast.

It is being alleged that nearly 900 people benefitted from the “coordinated criminal system”, with some 150 people already reportedly brought to court over it.

Former Labour MP Silvio Grixti – who resigned back in 2021 after he was detained and questioned by police in connection to the alleged racket – is believed to have been at the centre of this scandal. At least one claimant said he was referred to Grixti by Minister Owen Bonnici, but this is something that Bonnici and the Office of the Prime Minister have already “categorically denied”. 

Just last May, Social Justice Minister Michael Falzon had published data showing that 10,897 people had been caught receiving similar social benefits such as childcare, disability and unemployment aid over the last decade… benefits they were not entitled to. The total of savings and overpayments since 2012, in fact, comes up to some €43.8 million.

“They are not only stealing money from the government, but they are also stealing from hard-working citizens who continuously contribute to our society,” Falzon had said of these cases.

What do you make of these latest revelations and Martin Balzan’s reaction? Sound off in the comments below.