President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola said that the recently revealed disability benefit fraud scheme is far more than simply benefit fraud, but a scandal which is vast and organised.

"It is corruption designed to defraud the most vulnerable," Metsola said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

The latest revelations on the benefits fraud scheme show how aside from former Labour MP Silvio Grixti, there were various middlemen who would forge doctors' signatures and rubber stamps, as well as false Transport Malta documents.

The Sunday Times today also revealed that beneficiaries who received illicit disability money, said that a Labour Party canvasser and a former minister's aid lured them into the benefits fraud scheme, in return for a vote and a kickback amounting to a year's worth of benefits.

Metsola said that today's story exposes more of the scandal "that will not stop." She said that it is "as rotten as we thought."

"It's corruption that is organised systematically to enrich the few at the expense of the many. It's corruption at the highest levels of Government. It's corruption in exchange for votes. It's corruption that this Government has allowed to seep into every aspect of their operations," Metsola said.

She said that the scheme steals from the poor to give to those who were ready to sell their vote.

"A vote that the corrupt were willing and ready to buy. A vote whose sale they actively encouraged," she continued.

Metsola said that once again, there has been zero political responsibility, but rather more attempts to "sweep it under the carpet" and cover up to protect those at the top.

"It's the same playbook Malta and Gozo have endured for the last decade," she continued.

Metsola said that this is what happens when corruption is allowed to continue unabated, when the crooks are protected, when politics is seen as a get-out-of-jail-free card.

"Enough. We need zero-tolerance for corruption. We need politicians who protect the public interest. Those who don't, must be held accountable. We need to clean up the system. And we will," Metsola said.

Last week, it was revealed that some 800 people were receiving benefits for which they were not entitled. Former MP Silvio Grixti has been implicated in the scandal, having allegedly provided documents for people to receive these benefits.