Former parliamentary secretary Alex Muscat denies claims of citizenship-for-votes racket

Alex Muscat claimed that the whistleblower in the centre of the allegations had once threatened him with retaliation if he was not given Maltese citizenship

24 August 2023, 3:51pm
by Matthew Farrugia

1 min read

Alex Muscat has spoken called allegations from a former Labour activist turned whistleblower "lies"

Former parliamentary secretary for citizenship, Alex Muscat has broken silence on allegations surrounding kickbacks in an illegal identity and citizenship scheme, as Muscat claimed that the whistleblower at the centre of the allegations had once threatened to smear him.

Adel Ali Hassan, a former Labor activist is 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.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Muscat denied claims that Ali Hassan’s residential permit was revoked after he had refused to assist Muscat’s electoral campaign for 2022. He also wrote that Ali Hassan’s accusations which is included in a court application were also “lies”.

Muscat recalled that Identity Malta had already confirmed that the agency did not revoke Ali Hassan’s residence permit, as it was the whistleblower himself who failed to renew his temporary residence permit.

“The truth is that Adel Ali Hassan had been applying pressure to gain Maltese citizenship even though he knew that he was not entitled to it,” Muscat wrote.

Here, the former cabinet member claimed that when he had explained to Ali Hassan that Maltese citizenship was not possible, the whistleblower threatened retaliation.

“I will not let any false allegation concerning me tarnish my reputation,” Muscat concluded.

Matthew Farrugia is a staff reporter at MaltaToday