Former Labour activist to tell magistrate of criminal ruse to pass driving candidates and sell ID cards

Updated at 5pm with Malta Public Transport statement

A Labour Party activist claiming knowledge of kickbacks in an illegal identity and citizenship scheme, has come forward to tell a Maltese court of law all he knows about an allegedly criminal ruse.

Adel Ali Hassan claims his residence permit was revoked in October 2021 after having refused to assist the then-minister responsible for identity and citizenship, Alex Muscat, in his electoral campaign for 2022.

Hassan, a one-time Labour activist, ostensibly refused to give assistance to Muscat because his complaints about corruption inside the Transport Malta testing and licensing section, where he had been employed, had fallen on deaf ears.

The man, whose lawyer Jason Azzopardi argues is a whistleblower, says he became personally acquainted with a ruse to grant driving licences to candidates who had failed their driving tests.

Hassan, an interpreter by profession, was a Labour Party activist who also was elected secretary of the local Balzan club in 2008. In 2015, Transport Malta employed Hassan as a translator for candidates sitting for the written segment of the driving test.

Five years later in 2020, as Hassan declared in a statement to the financial crimes investigations department, a TM official, Philip Edrik Zammit, would mark out the candidates he had to ensure they pass the exam. Additionally, Hassan was told not to list these names in his invoice for payment.

Hassan also claims that TM official Clint Mansueto – who oversaw the testing department – abusively clawed a percentage of his own payment for translation services, as well as foisting on him forceful demands to buy him drinks and gifts.

Hassan said Mansueto would list a number of Italian and Moroccan driving candidates, respectively seeking employment in Maltese cab companies and public transport “by claiming they came under recommendation from the minister.”

Hassan said his complaints to the minister’s aide Jesmond Zammit (at the time a consultant to transport minister Ian Borg) and OPM customer care official Sandro Craus, fell on deaf ears. “They laughed at his claims,” his lawyers said.

Hassan is also alleging that a number of Maltese citizens of foreign nationality, were not issued with a death certificate upon their demise, but instead were transferred onto other naturalised persons with the intention of having them vote for Labour.

Hassan claims to know of thousands in cash payments paid out to obtain a Maltese identity card, whose number was arguably that of a deceased citizen.

The Nationalist Party said the allegations should be immediately investigated. “The allegations would mean that the Labour Party committed electoral fraud,” the PN said. “This is the result of a culture of corruption, abuse, and impunity that has been created and sustained by Joseph Muscat and Robert Abela, and which is destroying our democracy.”

The PN said it expected the Electoral Commission, as well Commissioner of Police Angelo Gafà to carry out the necessary investigations.

The PN had already filed complaints in the form of judicial protests, back in 2016 and 2018, complaining that Identity Malta was not providing sufficient information to the Electoral Commission to verify the identities of those with the right to vote.

Reacting to the PN’s statement, the Labour Party defended its position, saying the electoral commission is composed of representatives from both parties. It said the PN tries to either “invent or blame” in order to divert attention away from its own problems.

Malta Public Transport statement

Malta Public Transport disassociated itself from allegations of misconduct with respect to driving licence testing. "The company categorically denies that any attempt was made to influence the driving test process at any time for any of its employees," MPT said in a statement.

It condemned any corrupt behaviour and insisted that it follows a very strict procedure when it comes to newly-recruited bus drivers. "All bus drivers joining the company, irrespective of whether they are Maltese, EU nationals or non-EU nationals, follow an intensive eight-week training programme before they are able to drive a bus in service with passengers. All bus drivers are also required to sit for an additional internal ability test in order to be able to drive the company’s vehicles. This is done over and above the legal requirements in order to ensure that its bus drivers are competent in driving a bus in a professional and safe manner."