PN says Transport Malta employees were told to lie under oath

The Nationalist Party has said that it has evidence of Transport Malta employees being told to lie under oath regarding the purchase of five vessels that became unusable shortly after being bought.

The boats in question, also referred to as RHIBs, were rendered unusable shortly after they were purchased. 

The PN said that it has the evidence that led to an internal investigation, after Transport Malta employees that worked on the RHIBS reported that the vessels were not properly registered. “The police already have this evidence, yet no action has been taken,” the PN said. 

According to the PN, the information it possesses exposes how the employees were told to lie under oath and meddle with contravention tickets. 

In its report into the purchase of the vessles, the NAO noted how the process to purchase the sea vessels was led by one person with insufficient overview from the other members of the team tasked with the project. This resulted in a “suboptimal outcome”, the NAO said.

The audit office also noted the lack of internal controls at TM and a lack of documentation at every stage of the selection process.

In a statement on Friday, the PN said that no details have yet emerged from the internal investigation it had requested, and that no information has surfaced regarding what actions government plans to take. 

The opposition stated that because of this error, Transport Malta is not patrolling Maltese seas as it has no resources to do its job. “This also means that there is no enforcement in the Maltese seas, and this leads to a lack of security in the same seas.”

The PN is also insisting that all other scandals to be made public if they were noted during the internal investigations. They further asked whether those being investigated are in a position to influence witnesses, and if they have access to any evidence. 

“The public has a right to know if its taxes are being used responsibly,” the party stated, calling for a police investigation into the matter without further delays. 

“This is another case where those in the inner circles of the Labour Pary are pigging out,” the PN concluded. 

The statement was signed by PN MPs Ivan Castillo, Darren Carabott, and Mark Anthony Sammut.