Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1507818
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 SEPTEMBER 2023 NEWS PRIME Minister Robert Abela an- nounced that the 2024 Budget will feature a number of "important "changes" and that it will be pre- sented in Parliament on 30 Octo- ber. On Facebook, Abela said that on Saturday morning the Labour Party's parliamentary group dis- cussed the legislative program for Malta and stated that the budget focuses on the common good, the government's vision for the coun- try, and PL's electoral manifesto. On Monday Finance Minis- ter Clyde Caruana said that the budget will still be an expansion- ary one despite the fact that infla- tion far beyond 2% is here to stay, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana has stated. Caruana listed a number of ex- ternal factors that will shape Mal- ta's future fiscal policies while ad- dressing press and social partners during a meeting with the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) ahead of this year's budget. The Malta Employers Associa- tion called for a Budget that will cool down an overheating econo- my that could be posing a threat to sustainability, well-being and distribution. It said "some population seg- ments may actually end up worse off in spite of a growing economy" and called for a mitigation of the negative impact of growth. 2024 Budget featuring 'important changes' to be presented on 30 October Prime Minister says 2024 budget will focus on the common good, the government's vision for the country, and PL's electoral manifesto CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Grixti has not been charged yet over his alleged involve- ment in the racket with police only arraigning the beneficiar- ies. Information obtained by this newspaper shows that 28% of abuse cases so far were concen- trated in just three localities – Tarxien (16 cases), Żejtun (15) and Birżebbuġa (14). Benefit fraud predominant in Labour-leaning districts A breakdown of the 160 cases by electoral district shows that 21% of all cases involved res- idents in the 4th District, fol- lowed by the 1st District (19%), the 3rd District (16%), and the 5 District (13%). All four dis- tricts are Labour-leaning and collectively account for 109 abuse cases, or 68% of the total flagged so far. Sources said the police are still going through the files of suspected beneficiaries of this racket, which appears to have run between late 2018 and 2022. The police have so far honed in on 160 cases of abuse but sources privy to the inves- tigation believe the number could double as the probe in- tensifies. "Investigators are requesting information from social servic- es on certain individuals whose names would have cropped up during investigations and go- ing through the relevant doc- umentation to identify cases of abuse," the sources said. Names lifted from Grixti's lap- top A list of more than 200 patient names suspected of having ben- efitted from the abuse had been extracted by the police from Grixti's laptop. Sources said at least 60% of people on the list had received the severe disa- bility assistance, while others received some other social pay- ments unrelated to the abuse. Grixti, a family doctor, con- tested the general election for the first time in 2017 and was elected to parliament from the 3rd District on the Labour ticket. His parliamentary ca- 28% of abuse cases identified so concentrated in Tarxien, Zejtun Benefits fraud scandal District 1 Locality Abusers Hamrun 9 Marsa 3 Pietà 6 St Venera 8 Valletta 4 Total 30 (19% of abusers) District 2 Locality Abusers Birgu 3 Bormla 6 Kalkara 1 Zabbar 5 Total 15 (9%) District 3 Locality Abusers Għaxaq 4 Marsaskala 6 Marsaxlokk 1 Żejtun 15 Total 26 (16%) District 4 Locality Abusers Fgura 7 Gudja 3 Paola 6 St Lucia 1 Tarxien 16 Total 33 (21%) District 5 Locality Abusers Birżebbuġa 14 Kirkop 1 Mqabba 1 Qrendi 1 Żurrieq 3 Total 20 (13%) District 6 Locality Abusers Luqa 1 Qormi 5 Siġġiewi 1 Total 7 (4%) District 7 Locality Abusers Rabat 2 Żebbuġ 4 Total 6 (4%) District 8 Locality Abusers Balzan 3 Birkirkara 2 Total 5 (3%) District 9 Locality Abusers Msida 5 San Ġwann 4 Swieqi 1 Total 10 (6%) District 10 Locality Abusers Sliema 1 Total 1 (1%) District 11 Locality Abusers Attard 3 Total 3 (2%) District 12 Locality Abusers Naxxar 2 St Paul's Bay 2 Total 4 (3%) Localities where abusers of severe disability benefit lived Note: No people from Gozo, which comprises the 13 District, have so far been identified as having benefitted from the racket.