Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/995828
OPINION maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 20 JUNE 2018 8 NEWS ANALYSIS YANNICK PACE THE police have not contacted five witnesses claiming to have knowledge of a medical visa racket despite the police being informed of their willing- ness to speak, according to a dossier submitted in court on Monday by Alleanza Bidla leader, Ivan Grech Mintoff. The dossier, which was com- piled by Grech Mintoff, was sub- mitted as part of libel proceed- ings instituted by Neville Gafa – a former Health ministry official who is currently employed within the Office of the Prime Minister – against the Malta Independent. The story dates back to 2016, when it was alleged that Gafa was illegally issuing medical visas, and pocketing the proceeds. In addi- tion to medical visas, it was also alleged that a large number of Schengen visas were also issued by Marisa Farrugia, the Maltese Consul in Tripoli. A police investigation had cleared Gafa of having master- minded the racket; the dossier claims that there was not enough evi- dence to prosecute Farrugia. According to Grech Mintoff, after he had initially gone public with the infor- mation he had, he continued investi- gating the case, and was approached by several individuals who "came forward to confirm the story", adding that some were willing to go on record. "These witnesses have all confirmed their willingness to testify in a court of law," writes Grech Mintoff. "These witnesses, who wish to tes- tify that Neville Gafa asked them for money in exchange for visas have so far not been given the opportunity to testify, and neither have they been contacted by the police for interviews, even though they have been given their details." Grech Mintoff's dossier contains transcripts of conversations between himself and Serraj Essa, Ali S Gamati, Ayman Alzintani, Osama Mohamed Zaidi and Ali Algool. Copies of their passports are included in the dossier. The transcripts appear to confirm that Khalid Ben Nasan, who had origi- nally provided Gafa with information regarding the alleged racket, was in- deed the link between Libyan authori- ties and the government of Malta, rep- resented by Gafa. Essa claims to have held a meeting with Gafa and Ben Nasan regarding 22 wounded individuals that "urgently required medical assistance". Accord- ing to the transcript, Gafa "asked for, and got" €1.7 million for issuing the visas. Moreover, it is claimed that Gafa had also prevented the Libyan Health minister from contacting the Maltese health minister "to discuss why the Libyan government was being asked for payments when there was an of- ficial agreement for free treatment", as well as to discuss why, at a point, medical visas had stopped being is- sued. "He then confirms that Neville Gafa told the Libyan Health Ministry del- egation to proceed to Tunisia where it would be issued with the relevant visas for their travel," writes Grech Mintoff of the transcript. "The delegation waited for days for their visas to be processed (sic) but Neville Gafa simply switched off his mobiles and they never received the promised visas." In a second transcript, this time of a conversation between Grech Mintoff and Gamati, the latter states that he worked as a senior police officer and had tried for six months to get medi- cal visas from the Maltese Consulate in Libya. "But no visas were issued un- til he got in contact with Khalid Ben Nasan." "Ali Gamanti corroborates the fact that Khalid Ben Nasan was the link to Neville Gafa. Ali Gamati alleges that Neville Gafa asked him for €3 million to be deposited in a bank account and for payments of €3,500 to be made for each medical visa that was issued," reads the dossier. The dossier states that many of the people who had come forward said they feared having their visa taken away, adding that they would testify once they were given some sort of guarantee. Furthermore, Grech Mintoff claims to have been approached by individu- als from the Office of the Prime Min- ister who had initially offered him a job as well as asked what "his price" to shutting up would be. "The third time I was told that the messenger represented five high- ranking police officers who wanted me to stop investigating and exposing Khalid Ben Nasan's allegations and told me that Khalid Ben Nasan 'will go down' and that they did not want me to go down with him, the report reads," Grech Mintoff claimed. Witnesses willing to testify on alleged fraud never contacted by police MEDICAL VISAS A dossier on the 'medical visas scandal' compiled and submitted in court by Ivan Grech Mintoff includes transcripts of conversations with five Libyan men who claim to have been in contact with then Health ministry official, Neville Gafa, and middleman, Khalid Ben Nasan court by Ivan Grech Mintoff includes transcripts of conversations with