Former ministry aide cleared of ‘medical board’ bribery charges

A court has acquitted a former government customer care officer who had been charged with of accepting bribes from workers who wished to be boarded out.

Thomas Woods, assistant secretary in the Health Ministry, had been accused of corruption and extortion, after allegedly accepting bribes from Saverin Sinagra from Zejtun, to ‘help’ individuals who wanted to pass an exam before the medical board, with the intention of stopping work to receive a pension of invalidity from the social security department.

Woods used to handle applications from workers who claimed invalidity and applied to be boarded out. The court heard witnesses claim that Sinagra charged the individuals Lm 600, on Woods' instructions.

Woods also required certain gifts for the help he was offering, such as a particular brand of expensive whisky.

He had consistently denied soliciting or accepting money from these workers although he admitted to accepting unsolicited tokens of appreciation on occasion.

The case was filed in 2007 after a report was filed by psychiatrist and later minister Joe Cassar.

Cassar had reported how a worker, John Camilleri, had claimed to have been told by ministry official Saverin Sinagra, that he should speak to Woods on his behalf. In return for his boarding-out application to be processed, he was expected to pay between Lm600 and Lm700 (€1,610).

Camilleri had refused to pay and Sinagra had informed him that the process would stop there, as she could not help him further.

Questioned by police Sinagra had admitted to having demanded the money on several occasions and said that she would hand them to Woods.

Woods denied ever asking for payment, however it was noted that Camilleri's boarding-out application had ceased to be processed at the same time.

Witnesses testified to having been asked for money by Sinagra but said that Woods had never made such a demand to them.

The court had found that while Sinagra had demanded the money and had told applicants that she would pass it on to Woods, there had been no such arrangement between the two.

Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit ruled that in her belief, Sinagra had been keeping all the money for herself.

Clearing the accused of all charges, the court held that no evidence of wrongdoing on Wood's part had been exhibited and the charges were therefore not proven.

Rabbit and a fish

Directly appointed by Deguara to his secretariat since 1995, Woods has already admitted to investigators that he received ‘gifts’ from people applying for their invalidity pension through militant Nationalist activist Saverin Sinagra of Zejtun, aged 71, who acted as go-between.

Under interrogation by police detectives, Woods admitted he used to visit Sinagra at her house in Zejtun to receive rewards in the form of meat, fish, rabbits and wine, but denied he received payments when asked whether he received up to Lm600 in kickbacks.
His version contrasted with the statement given by Sinagra to the police who said that she also handed sealed envelopes to Woods from recipients of the invalidity pensions.
Psychiatrist and Nationalist MP Joe Cassar was crucial in unearthing the scandal when a client of his told him that he was told to pay bribes to be boarded out or forget about his pension, even though he was entitled to an invalidity pension.

Dr Cassar had convinced the client to speak to the authorities about the allegations, with investigators following the leads given to them that led to Sinagra and Woods.

Deguara took at least one month to sack Woods since the police raided his office and confiscated all files and documents before interrogating him.

When told that his assistant private secretary had admitted to receiving gifts, Deguara said: “Yes, some rabbits and a fish.”

Deguara admitted that the allegations showed that the trust he had put in his long-time aide had been breached and was disappointed about that, but he insisted that he never knew the abuse was going on. “Absolutely, I never knew this was happening and he (Woods) is still denying the allegations,” Deguara said.

Lawyer Kathleen Grima was legal counsel to Woods.