Benefits fraud scandal: Every cent stolen should be returned, Repubblika says

Every cent stolen through a recently-exposed disability benefits racket should be refunded to the public, rule-of-law NGO Repubblika insists.

During a press conference in front of Castille, Aquilina said that the public deserves a full account of the money stolen by the racket, and insisted that every cent should be returned to public coffers.

“This isn’t a government that helps you, this is a government that pushes you into crime,” Aquilina said. “And despite knowing all this, and with proof, no one has taken political responsibility.”

Repubblika president Robert Aquilina giving a speech outside Parliament (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)

Aquilina insisted that political responsibility must be shouldered, and the people behind this criminal racket must be taken to court as soon as possible.

Moreover, he insisted that Robert Abela should “stop using the tools of the State to protect himself and his criminal friends.

Aquilina acknowledged that the government set up a board that will investigate the benefit fraud racket, but said that this was only set up because they were caught.

“They did this pathetic manouvre to avoid shouldering the political responsibility they, and others, should be shouldering.”

He also questioned how, despite a Labour MP resigning in 2021 over the suspected racket, none of the masterminds of the racket were charged in court.

“Who are the minds and hands that created and operated this criminal system?” he asked.

Last Sunday, the Times of Malta reported details of the social benefitsfraud racket perpetrated by former Labour MP Silvio Grixti.

Grixti used to provide people with a package of falsified medical certificates and documents, which they later used to claim severe disability benefits amounting to more than €400 per month.

The fraudulent exercise benefitted around 800 people, with police charging the beneficiaries with social benefit fraud.

Grixti resigned from parliament in December 2021 when the case first emerged.