Former Labour MP slapped with €4.5 million freezing order over benefits racket

Silvio Grixti, the former Labour MP believed to be the mastermind behind a multi-million-euro racket of social benefits fraud, has been slapped with a €4.5 million freezing order, according to a court ruling.

Magistrate Rachel Montebello decided the 49-year-old doctor from Zejtun should bear the largest brunt of a freezing order against the five accused.

A general freezing order of €4.5 was issued on Grixti’s assets last April. The other defendants also had a freezing order imposed on parts of their assets and property, but to a different degree.

Dustin Caruana, 36, from Tarxien, was slapped with a freezing order of €153,000; Emanuel Spagnol, 70, from Zejtun, €90,000; Roger Agius, 46, from Birzebbugia, who served as the former Labour MP’s driver, €60,000; and Luke Saliba, 33, from Msida, has his assets, up to the value of €47,000, frozen.

All five are facing accusations of defrauding the government of some €6 million in disability benefits through a scheme they coordinated.

The alleged fraudsters were arraigned last April after years of investigations by the police, started through a whistleblower.

Evidence indicated that Grixti provided false medical documents to people, mostly Labour voters from the south, to receive social benefits averaging €450 a month for severe disabilities that were fake.

Apparently, none of the government-appointed medical boards, including medical professionals close to the government, knew what was happening.

Grixti’s driver, Roger Agius, a government employee, is believed to have played a significant role in the racket. While he asked for whistleblower protection to spill the beans, including on other key government officials involved, including politicians, the government turned down his request.

Some of the beneficiaries of this racket told the police that they were referred to Grixti by Labour ministers, politicians’ aides and even customer care officials from the Office of the Prime Minister.

Grixti resigned from parliament in December 2021 after he was arrested and interrogated by the police.