"This is no pardon," an angry magistrate exclaimed in court, brandishing a letter sent by the Office of the President to one of hundreds of beneficiaries of allegedly fraudulent disability benefits.

In April, Robert Abela's Labour government decided that hundreds of persons who were fraudulently claiming severe disability benefits would be granted a presidential pardon. There was widespread shock and anger at the move.  The state had been cheated of millions of euro by hundreds of people mostly hailing from staunchly Labour districts allegedly on the back of false certificates provided by Labour MP and OPM consultant Silvio Grixti.

The whole country was livid that law-abiding, tax-payers had been forking out millions of euro for those fraudsters to benefit for years. Labour's decision to grant them a Presidential pardon went down like a lead balloon.

The whole country knew why Labour was doing it.  The vast majority of those caught up in the massive fraud were Labour supporters. They had allegedly been induced or enticed to join the industrial scale fraud by Labour party members, canvassers, ministers' drivers and even an MP.  Labour knew that many of them felt cheated by Labour.  They were furious that after the strong reassurances they had been given by Labour insiders that they wouldn't be caught, they were facing criminal prosecution.

Labour knew their votes and those of their families were lost.  An important election was fast approaching. So Labour came up with an ingenious plan to win back those votes - a blanket pardon.

The sense of injustice around the country was palpable. The severe backlash forced Labour to issue not one but two press releases trying to justify its craven decision to exonerate cheats and fraudsters.

"The pardon is not intended to let people off the hook," one source close to government commented, trying to defend the move. "The pardon is only intended for the small fish," a government spokesman stated. All sorts of excuses were presented - those people were genuinely sick, poor and needed the money; the benefit money was their only livelihood.  None of those excuses made any sense.  Does being poor justify cheating? Does being genuinely sick entitle you to defraud the state?  "They risk being fired from their jobs if the courts find them guilty", Labour commented.  So that entitles them to a presidential pardon?

Labour had to do something to defuse the country's rage.  Those fraudsters, Labour explained, had to apply for the Presidential pardon through a process which required them to agree to two conditions.  Firstly they had to pay back in full their ill-gotten gains.  Secondly they had to agree to testify against any individual involved in the criminal conspiracy.

In July, Prime Minister Abela announced that over 100 of those involved in the disability scandal had applied for the Presidential pardon.

Yet over six months after the scheme was announced, nobody has seen a single Presidential pardon. The courts repeatedly asked for the Presidential pardons to be exhibited.  Not a single pardon has been presented despite the fact that hundreds have apparently been granted.

Moira Attard, a representative from the Office of the President, appeared in court before Magistrate Rachel Montebello.  She was meant to exhibit one of those elusive pardons.  She didn't.  Instead she presented a letter signed by herself confirming that the Presidential pardon had been granted to the accused.

The Magistrate couldn't believe it.  She asked the OPR officer whether "the presidential pardon exists in document form". "There is a written document signed by the president where the President agrees with the Justice Minister's recommendation for a pardon" was Attard's embarrassed reply, "but the file doesn't belong to the OPR".

"Was there a pardon individually given to the defendant?"  "No" came the answer.

That same bizarre situation repeated itself before Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech.  The court repeatedly asked for the official copy of the pardons granted to be exhibited in court.  Not a single was presented.

Visibly annoyed, the magistrate commented: "The repeated failure to exhibit them has resulted in a waste of time and public money".

The magistrate asked one of the accused directly.  "Did you get the pardon?  Did you ever sign a pardon? Did anyone explain the conditions of the pardon to you?".  The cleaner from Fgura shook her head. Her defence lawyer, Charlot Cascun intervened: "She is aware of it but she never signed".

The magistrate could not take it.  She questioned how the woman could have possibly agreed to the conditions of the pardon if she hadn't signed any document.  "There is no such thing as a pardon by reference, this is not a pardon... this is not the way pardons are done".

The Magistrate deferred all the hearings of the hundreds of persons accused of fraud in the disability benefits scandal until March 2025.  "The court has no option," the court commented.

There must be a very good reason why the Presidential pardons have not been exhibited in court. Those pardons would indicate clearly the conditions of the pardon.

Why are those pardons kept secret? Nobody really knows because it's such a closely guarded secret.  One possible reason is that Labour did not include that second condition, requiring those granted a pardon to testify against the racket masterminds, in the pardon.  And Labour doesn't want anybody to find out.

Or else if that condition was included, the vast majority of the beneficiaries of that pardon would be in breach and would have their pardon withdrawn.  Practically none of those who applied for that pardon have testified against the masterminds.  Indeed the majority have remained silent about those who recruited them into the scam.

Labour has no interest in letting hundreds of people testify about the criminal conspiracy.  Labour doesn't want the sordid details of the sleazy racket to get any more exposure. Those benefitting from the pardon understand the key unwritten condition of the get-out-of-jail card Labour has given them - keep quiet.