Former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said Saturday that Labour had reached a new low with the benefits fraud scandal.

“You have managed to ruin an act of solidarity by the Maltese people towards the most vulnerable because through your actions you converted it into an act of fraud to win votes,” the former PM said on Facebook.

Gonzi was referring to reports that hundreds of people were receiving disability benefits when they were not entitled to them. Former Labour MP Silvio Grixti is implicated in the scheme.

Gonzi said the scandal is not only because people took money they did not deserve; it is even bigger because it was organised by Castille.

“You knew there were false signatures, flase ceritifcates, false declarations. You got to know about what was happening two years ago. So why is only today – two years after you were caught – that you felt the need to evaluate the process of how the benefit for severe disability is approved?”

This morning, the government has announced the setting up of a board of inquiry to investigate the process of how disability benefits are offered.