The suspension of five of the Malta Transport Authority’s six driving test examiners has created a backlog of close to 2,000 learner drivers waiting to be tested, a source close to the Urban Development and Roads Ministry has informed this newspaper.

The backlog began to grow at the end of May, when the first examiner was put on forced leave after admitting accepting bribes for driving test passes. One by one, over subsequent weeks, four more examiners have been implicated in the scandal through an internal inquiry undertaken by the ADT.

With the last examiner standing having been left to deal with the enormous backlog, the same sources confirm that the ADT is in the process of training people “knowledgeable” in the area of driving tests to take over from the examiners under investigation.

The focus of inquiries is now expected to turn towards a number of motoring schools, now that the ADT has handed over the case of the examiners – including all statements and information gathered through its internal inquiry – to the police, who are already in the process of making arraignments.

While one motoring school already implicated in the scandal has alleged extortion through advances made by examiners, others are thought to have been willing participants and were also pocketing their fair share from the racket.

It has also been stressed that, from day one, the ministry has been involved and has dealt with the matter in the proper fashion, with the full intention of “stamping out and eradicating any and all forms of corruption”, but that the matter has unfortunately become politicised.

This, however, jars with the virtual wall of silence put up by the authorities since developments began to unfold, a silence that was broken on Friday when the ministry announced the appointment of a board of inquiry tasked at least with looking into the bribery allegations and the involvement of a driving instructor, Nikolai Magri, in a traffic accident while driving under the influence of alcohol.

The ministry also named the other instructors who, along with Mr Magri, are being investigated by the police as: Jason Buttigieg, Paul Grech, Ian Pace and Roderick Galea.

And the board’s terms of reference will see the investigation widening its net to other ADT departments, units and practices.

In addition, the board will look into the ADT’s exact handling of the bribery allegations, will recommend how the testing system can be streamlined in order to prevent future corrupt practices and will root out any other potentially corrupt practices at the Licensing and Testing Directorate and at other ADT departments or units – where a keen eye is now expected to be turned toward the driving theory test regime.

The board – headed by Louis Cilia and assisted by Paul Attard and Dr Richard Galea Debono – has been given a deadline of 10 July by which to present its report.

Although the ministry went public on Friday, the courts took a different view and preferred to withhold information from a Malta Independent journalist over whether charges in the ADT case had actually been filed – basic information that is usually given out at this stage of the legal process.

When making its request, the press were told they were on a “fishing expedition”. Earlier in the day, a court official was heard saying on the telephone: “Hawn xi hadd tal-press biex ikun jaf xi haga fuq il-kaz ta’ l-ADT. Aqtaghlu fil-qasir u ttihx informazzjoni” (“There is someone from the press asking for information on the ADT case. Cut him short and don’t provide him with information”).

Police sources, however, have confirmed that two driving test examiners and the owner of a driving school have been charged so far. The case will now be assigned to a particular magistrate and when a date and time is provided, the accused will be informed to appear in court to answer the charges.

With charges against three of the implicated examiners still pending, and with attention now turning increasingly towards motoring schools and other elements of the testing regime, further arraignments in connection with the racket are expected.