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Karl Schembri
As the Transport Authority’s credibility crumbles in the midst of the driving licenses bribery scandal involving all its examiners but one, Transport Minister Jesmond Mugliett says it will be the Prime Minister who will decide his political future.
Last night, faced with new revelations about one of the investigated examiners involved in a drink driving accident, the minister admitted the authority’s credibility had been “considerably damaged” by the entire scandal.
“As regards my position, I think it’s a question the prime minister will have to answer,” the minister told MaltaToday. “He has to judge whether I acted correctly or incorrectly. I think that internally there are certain responsibilities within the directorate (licensing and testing) that will have to be shouldered.”
Mugliett also admits there were “widespread rumours” about the authority’s driving test, with unprecedented failure rates, but he never came across “any specific allegation” prior to the eruption of the scandal.
“I’m very worried because every exam needs to have the trust of the clients, both current clients and potential ones,” the minister said. “I had received complaints that the test was difficult, generic complaints that were difficult to follow up on their own.
“At one point there were some suspicions because the examiners could know beforehand who they would be examining, giving an opportunity for abuse, and that was changed. At times I also asked for statistics to check the pass rates achieved by motoring schools, to check if there was a pattern of possible abuses, but nothing resulted out of that.
“Whenever I used to ask about the high failure rates I was always told by the licensing directorate that the new test was modelled on the British driving test; that it was a rigorous test and the pass rates were similar to international pass rates.
“I’m saddened by all this because the authority has its credibility damaged and now I have instructed the authority to do anything possible to ensure transparency and make it user friendly.”
About Nicholas Magrin – one of the five examiners investigated and who was transferred rather than suspended after he hit Labour MP Joseph Cuschieri’s father while driving a van in a drunken state last April – the minister defends the authority’s decision to keep him working with the authority as the police had failed to initiate proceedings against him.
Now on forced leave after his arrest in connection with the bribery investigations, Magrin awaits police charges together with his colleagues Roderick Galea, Jason Buttigieg, Ian Pace and Paul Grech.
Galea is directly linked to the minister as he has been his canvasser for years.
“I don’t deny that there were times when he was with me, particularly in party clubs and in home visits,” the minister said yesterday. “I wouldn’t say he’s my closest canvasser. It wasn’t I who employed him at the testing directorate, and he didn’t get any promotions since I became transport minister.”
Meanwhile the big question is how the authorities intend to deal with possibly hundreds of licenses that were effectively bought, and with those who were failed because they paid no bribes.
“I think you’re jumping to conclusions,” the minister said. “Nothing has been proven so far, it has yet to be proved that this was something systematic. Even though there are five examiners on forced leave we still don’t know what they will be charged with exactly, if at all.”
kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt
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