The man at the centre of the alleged fraud involving false medical certificates to Labour voters for social benefits they were not entitled to, was an advisor to Prime Minister Robert Abela.
Former Labour MP Silvio Grixti, elected in 2017 and forced to resign his parliamentary seat in 2021 after being arrested and interrogated by the police, was an adviser to the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) between 2017 and 2022.
He was on a €20,500 a year contract signed by Projects Malta, which falls under the remit of the OPM.
The contract, renewed every year, was for Grixti to provide advice on health and life sciences and later local council projects “with particular emphasis on the south of Malta”.
His advisory role at the OPM is significant in light of reports by The Times of Malta that many of those seeking Grixti’s false certificates to receive social benefits were directed to the former MP by the OPM’s customer care unit.
While Grixti’s advisory role started when disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat was at the helm, Abela kept him on as he did with James Camenzuli, the key person in Projects Malta, enabling several shady deals shown to be corrupt, such as the privatisation of three of Malta’s public hospitals, which the Court ruled was “fraudulent“.
Due to the scandals surrounding Projects Malta, Abela rebranded the agency to Malta Strategic Partnerships Ltd. Its role is the same – to facilitate public-private partnerships – but controversy continues to surround the agency.
While Abela gave the agency a fresh look, he retained Camenzuli, whose signature is on all of Grixti’s contracts as OPM adviser.
In 2019, Grixti also served on the medical board of the Lands Authority
Other ministries and government entities also gave him a number of other consultancy contracts worth tens of thousands of euros.
These include some €50,761 from Transport Malta, with the latest contract lasting until mid-2022, and €23,123 from the Health Ministry as consultant to Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne.
Makes one wonder who was advising whom in this case.
Another day, another scandal with links back to the office of the Prime Minister.
Robert Abela has to be amongst the front runners for 2023 to emulate the title awarded by journalists in 2019 to his predecessor, Joseph Muscat, as the most corrupt man in the world?
Sadly, the going rate for personal morals and integrity in modern MLP Malta seems to be much, much lower than what this fraudster got for ripping off his countrymen. They say that opportunity makes a thief, but I choose to believe that the individuals involved in all the MLP rackets (that have come to light and have yet to surface) were defective to begin with and were simply provided the opportunity to ‘self-actualize’ post 2013. If not, what’ll stop the pillage? Not the sheeple at the polls, obviously. Query: Can moral relativism really justify all manner of sculdyggery within a mere decade?
When is he going to court? soon I hope, that will reduce the time he has to formulate fairy tales absolving any government collusion that may have already appeared. 10 years would be too lenient in my opinion.
Try to investigate Dr Grixti’s MEGA Zejtun villa………….and how on earth a village family doctor built it including it’s lavish interiors and gardens.
Try to relate his and his wife’s official income and do some math with property and finishes consultants.
By the way, guess who was the responsible architect?………..Chris Cachia!!!