[WATCH] Former Labour MP Silvio Grixti mum as he enters court charged with benefits racket

Former Labour MP Silvio Grixti mum as he enters court charged with benefits racket

Updated at 10:15am with magistrate recusal 

Uncertainty surrounds the status of five men who appeared in court in connection with a social benefits fraud racket, after the surprise recusal of the magistrate appointed to preside over it.

When the sitting was due to start on Thursday, Magistrate Leonard Caruana announced that he had been “made aware of certain proceedings” which required, in order for the best administration of justice, that he abstain from presiding over this case. The court then sent the acts of the case back to the registrar to be reassigned.

What proceedings were being referred to is unclear at this time.

After the court’s pronouncement lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Michael Sciriha informed the court that they would have had no difficulty with him presiding over the case, but would submit to his decision.

The public and media were then sent out of the courtroom and the hearing continued in their absence.

The former Labour MP embroiled in a social benefits racket, Dr. Silvio Grixti, appeared in court this morning to be formally charged, together with alleged co-conspirators Roger Agius, Emmanuel Spagnol, Dustin Caruana, and Luke Saliba, with offences relating to fraud and organised crime.

READ ALSO: Andy Ellul’s former driver says OPM ignored requests to expose ‘corrupt acts’ relating to benefits fraud

Grixti, a popular medical doctor, cut a lonely figure as he entered court, in silence, to face charges relating to his alleged role in a social benefits racket. He had nothing to say when journalists asked him whether top brass inside Labour knew of his dealings with constituents and his role in the racket.

The disability benefits racket enabled claimants to receive monthly payments, averaging around €450, from the Department of Social Security.

The five men, who did not appear in court under arrest, were to be charged with organising and forming part of a criminal organisation, defrauding the Department of Social Security of an amount in excess of €5,000, forging official documents that entitle holders to payment and knowingly making use of such documents.

The men were also meant to face charges of forging public documents and knowingly making use of them, making a false declaration to the public authorities and possession of items intended to be used for fraudulent purposes, as well as a separate charge of money laundering.

READ ALSO: Silvio Grixti attacks Labour Party 'monster' in fiery Facebook post

Two of the men, Dustin Caruana and Emanuel Spagnol, were meant to also be charged with breaching bail conditions which they had been released from arrest under, in connection with other cases.

The investigation was revealed by the Times of Malta, detailing how Grixti was involved in a years-long racket to help “hundreds” of people fraudulently receive monthly disability benefits they were not entitled to.

In several other criminal proceedings witnesses said that Grixti had provided false medical documents to help people, often constituents in Labour strongholds, to receive social benefits for severe disabilities they did not suffer from, averaging €450 monthly.

The Financial Crime Investigations Department (FCID) had started investigating in 2021, with police combing through hundreds of suspicious files of people who were receiving the benefits, interrogating them and charging most of them in court.

In those separate proceedings, some of the claimants have said that they were referred to Grixti by a Labour minister, PL politicians’ aides, and even customer care officials from the Office of the Prime Minister.

Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Kris Busietta represented Agius. Michael Schriha represented Caruana and Spagnol. Franco Debono and Arthur Azzopardi represented Grixti. Saliba was represented by Jose Herrera and Matthew Xuereb.

Police Inspectors Wayne Borg, Andy Rotin and Shaun Friggieri are prosecuting, assisted by lawyers Abigail Caruana Vella, Charmaine Abdilla from the Office of the Attorney General