Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1519535
4 NEWS 4 MATTHEW FARRUGIA mfarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt MATTHEW AGIUS magius@mediatoday.com.mt maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 24 APRIL 2024 PUBLIC prosecutors and law enforce- ment personnel failed to reply to an of- fer of sworn testimony that promised to reveal a conspiracy between Cabinet ministers and public officials to facili- tate the commission of benefits fraud. This emerges from documents up- loaded to Facebook today by Roger Agius, one of the five men accused of organising the fraudulent scheme which allowed beneficiaries, hailing mostly from Labour Party strongholds, to fraudulently receive monthly social benefit payments for severe disabilities which they did not actually suffer from. The documents show that Agius had been assisting the police investiga- tion into the fraudulent scheme since his arrest in October 2023, assistance which investigators had deemed valu- able enough to request the inquiring magistrate grant an extension of his police bail last December. But just two hours after that request was filed, in his written reply, Agius had told the inquiring magistrate that the police were "protecting leading politicians and their persons of trust who had been involved in this racket." Agius, the former driver and canvass- er for minister Andy Ellul and ex-MP Dr. Silvio Grixti, pointed to an email his lawyers had sent to the police in- spector handling the investigation in November 2023. In that email, the lawyers had in- formed the police that Agius had first-hand information about the or- igins of the fraud which used forged medical certificates to qualify people for the severe disability benefit, "as well about as the criminal organisa- tion and conspiracy between several individuals, including public officials with the complicity of members of Cabinet since 2019." Over €10 million had been paid in benefits to around 400 to 500 unde- serving recipients since 2019, the law- yers said. At the time he sent the email, Agius had expressed his willingness to tes- tify "how, in 2019, a public officer at the Ministry for Social Security, who is a person of trust to the Social Secu- rity Minister, had given him a burner phone that all telephone calls about applications based on fraudulent cer- tificates were to be made through." Agius' email also stated that he was prepared to explain "how this public official would arrange the composition of the medical board in order to guar- antee that applicants referred by [Agi- us] would have a positive outcome to their applications." Agius said that he had been willing to testify under oath to the duty magis- trate that during the first 3 months of 2023 he was still delivering these appli- cations and fraudulent paperwork to Minister Michael Falzon's person of trust, who he said, had told him that "as long as the Minister is there, we will never have any trouble." "He can declare and testify under oath how this public officer had told [one of the people referred by Agius] that the important thing was that Labour was winning votes." The email was never replied to, Agius said in his Facebook post. "As you see, on January 2, 2023, I had declared that during my interro- gation on November 17, 2023, I had asked the inspector to take me, right then and there, to a public building in Valletta to show him the traces of this crime and how the ringleader behind this racket-who is a public officer in Falzon's ministry - had carried it out. The inspector had told me that this was [just] theatrics." Andy Ellul's ex-driver claims police ignored his offer to testify about benefits fraud racket GOVERNMENT has announced a set of measures aimed at increas- ing women's participation in local council elections. The measures were announced less than two months before the country is set to choose its local representatives. Commissioner for the National Promotion of Equal- ity, Renee Laiviera outlined nine recommendations proposed by the Taskforce on the Balance in Gender in Local Councils, which she heads. The first proposal concerns po- litical commitment by govern- ment institutions, political parties, NGOs and the media, compli- mented by an informative cam- paign aimed at highlighting the importance of gender balance in politics. Another proposal calls for the prioritisation of the under-repre- sented sex when political parties are in a position to co-opt individ- uals, with the ultimate goal of this proposal being to reach 40% rep- resentation of both sexes on each local council. The taskforce outlined the need to revamp local councils in order to make them more inclusive in- stitutions. Among other measures chosen to achieve this, the propos- als call for a change in time and format of local council meetings, while ensuring that structures are present to deal with abuse of lo- cal councillors, including sexual abuse. Another proposal is aimed at en- suring that political parties com- mit to actively recruit female can- didates and integrate them within the parties. During the press conference, parliamentary secretary for re- forms Rebecca Buttigieg was asked what percentage of local council candidates are women, but she re- frained from answering given that the call for candidates is still open. Another proposal concerning political parties involved the de- velopment of a "gender-respon- sive" environment within their structures. One proposal called for the re- moval of the €90 registration fee when candidates contest local council elections, as it was ex- plained that the fee would be waived for both male and female candidates so that they could ben- efit from more resources. Parliamentary secretary for reforms has faith in the electorate Following the press conference, Buttigieg was asked whether she has faith that the proposals in question would truly increase fe- male representation in politics, given the fact that despite the gen- der corrective mechanism, the last general election saw less female candidates directly elected. "I have faith in the electorate," Buttigieg responded, noting a greater number of female can- didates would be translated to a greater number of female repre- sentatives in politics. She added that if all parties involved are truly committed to promoting equality, the goal can be reached, as she ap- pealed to voters to vote for female candidates in the upcoming elec- tions. When confronted by the fact that the gender mechanism in the gen- eral election discriminates against candidates who don't come from the two big parties, Buttigieg said that the gender mechanism can't be compared to these proposals. Nine recommendations rolled out to elect more women to local councils