Prime Minister Robert Abela should shoulder political responsibility on the social benefits racket revealed over the weekend, Nationalist Party spokesperson for Active Ageing Paula Mifsud Bonnici said on Wednesday.

During a PN press conference, Mifsud Bonnici said that the alleged abusive scheme which saw people receive social benefits which they were not entitled to was “worked out for the purpose of stealing votes” and millions of euros.

Last Sunday the Times of Malta reported that former Labour MP Silvio Grixti was implicated in a scandal that allegedly enabled hundreds of people to receive disability benefits which they were not entitled to.

Medical documents were provided for people to apply for benefits averaging €450 intended for severe disabilities they do not suffer from.

The PN MP said that the Prime Minister is scared to shoulder political responsibility and has said nothing on the matter since the allegations broke.

The Office of the Prime Minister on Tuesday disputed this, saying that Abela’s office had responded to questions as part of the original story and denied any involvement.

She said that such frauds would not happen in a normal country where democracy is one of the pillars for good governance.

On Wednesday, Social Policy Ministry Michael Falzon said that 141 cases of Severe Disability Assistance were terminated and over €2 million need to be recovered, whilst denying accusations that action had not been taken on allegations of abuse.

Commenting on this, Mifsud Bonnici invited the Social Policy Minister to dissociate himself from the government and “teach the Prime Minister a lesson since clearly there was the involvement of more than one person”. She also questioned whether Falzon is investigating who the people involved in the alleged fraud are.

The MP said that the scheme was clearly done by those close to the government, working either in department such as customer care within ministries and in “Castille, the office of Prime Minister.”

“These people were given the money, because they had people helping them,” she said.

On her part, PN spokesperson for civil rights Claudette Buttigieg although acknowledging that those who benefitted from such scheme are most likely vulnerable, she urged them to speak up on who authorised these transfers as “ you are going to suffer alone.”

Moreover she also questioned as to how there is no magisterial inquiry on the matter, as such evidence needs to be collected since only Grixti’s phone was confiscated.

“Is it possible that there is no one who has a laptop in the ministry containing all the names?” she asked.

PL statement

In response, the Labour Party said responsibility dictates that when there is suspicion of an abuse allegation, action be taken immediately. "That is what the Office of the Prime Minister and the relevant entities within the Social Policy Ministry did, and that is why the police investigated."

"It was from Castille that the alleged abuse was reported, contrary to what the PN is saying."

"The Prime minister also took the political decisions when the alleged case broke. Contrary to what the Opposition Leader did when he had serious cases of alleged abuses from his own MPs and did nothing. As usual, the PN is not interested in true justice and in the institutions doing their job," the PL said.