Officials from the examinations department within the ministry of education will be arraigned in court in the coming days, charged with fraud.

Education Minister Evarist Bartolo made this announcement this morning during a news conference. The case involves an examination for the post of executive officers within the public service, which was held last January at the height of the election campaign.

In total 799 candidates sat for the exam, of whom only 128 failed. Mr Bartolo refused to give further details except that at least one candidate, who coincidentally is an employees of the examinations department, was given an additional 26 marks, in a ‘rounding up exercise’.

The real consequences of this alleged irregularity are much serious due the fact that many other candidates  had been penalised and had 19 marks deducted as it was felt that “there were too many passes”.

The results were ready by 15 February, but two days later an order was given to deduct 5 marks to reduce the number of passes. However this measure failed to eliminate the desired number, and subsequently a decision was taken to deduct an additional 14 marks.

The education minister said that these allegations of fraud came to light from sources within the examinations department, who decided to come forward and spill the beans. According to Mr Bartolo the alarm bells rang when the order to make a further deduction of marks was issued. Asked by this newspaper whether the new administration will refrain from holding examinations for various posts with the civil service on the eve of a general election, due to the widespread perception that this will lead to political interference,  the education minister expressed his willingness to make such a recommendation at cabinet level.

Mr Bartolo said that the results will be published in the coming days, and hinted that no fees will be charged for those requesting a revision of paper due to the various shortcomings in the entire process. He added that the results of other examinations including those within the army will be immediately published as candidates have the right to know how they performed, to ensure full transparency.

The education minister said that a thorough review of the checks and balances adopted by the examinations department will be carried out to minimise the risk of irregularities. As a matter of fact he said that the practice of having only one person in charge of inputting examination results in the government database, leaves much to be desired.