Suspension of TM officials leading to longer waiting times for driving tests

The suspension of three Transport Malta officials over corruption allegations has resulted in prolonged waiting times for learners who apply for a driving test.

The situation has led applicants for a car driving test in Malta to wait for around six to eight weeks. Learners in Gozo are worse off, having to wait for up to three months.

Those applying to get a licence for heavy vehicles and motorcycles also have to wait for two to three months due to the staff shortage spurred by the investigation.

Transport Malta director for Land Transport Directorate Clint Mansueto, former Żebbuġ Labour councillor Philip Edrick Zammit, and Raul Antonio Pace, are pleading not guilty to charges of corruption and trading in influence.

The police are analysing over 200 names found in diaries confiscated from Clint Mansueto. Investigators seized diaries for 2021 and 2022, which contained around 250 names.

According to reports, police are matching those names with text messages and other information to determine whether they were all granted preferential treatment.

Sources have said most of the names were listed as “appointments” but in certain cases, the names, ID cards and dates corresponded precisely with the date the individuals sat, and passed their driving exam.

Industry sources have said Raul Pace’s suspension has caused a disruption in the schedule. Pace was charged with handling the scheduling of driving test from Monday to Friday. “The scheduling of tests has also been moved from TM’s Floriana offices to their offices in Lija,” one of the sources said.

When car instructors were flagging to TM officials that Mansueto’s absence was resulting in a backlog, they were told that a replacement could not be picked until a court sentence is issued. Mansueto has since been suspended on half-pay from Transport Malta.

Speaking on the ongoing court proceedings, the industry source said that issues had long been flagged to the authorities.

“When driving instructors were noticing wrongdoing and reported these allegations to authorities in Transport Malta, the answer would always be ‘where is the proof?’” he said. “It was obvious that there were attempts to play down the suspicions.”

A driving instructor, who spoke to this newspaper under condition of anonymity, said that just a few months before the allegations were made, a learner had applied for a driving test with him. “While his initial application for the test was being processed, the student went to another driving school, applied for a change in driving school, applied for the test again, and took the test. It was so blatant that he didn’t even bother to get the money he paid me for the first test refunded.”

Testifying on Thursday, the police inspector investigating the bribery of Transport Malta officials told a court that he has not yet spoken to the people suspected of instigating the bribery.

Despite the court having been told about an implicated Labour minister, lists of candidates from different ministries, and the involvement of people linked to “a political party”, police have not yet questioned those who allegedly ordered Transport Malta officials to give preferential treatment to certain candidates in their driving tests.

When he was questioned, Mansueto had told the police that he was placed under pressure by a minister, who was not named in court, into helping certain individuals pass their driving test. These individuals had been carrying out works at the minister’s villa.

Questions sent to the transport authority were unanswered by the time of going to print.