Transport Malta driving test whistleblower willing to testify – Cassola

Independent politician Arnold Cassola on Saturday said he has been in touch with the interpreter/translator who blew the whistle on the latest driving test racket at Transport Malta who was willing to testify in ongoing court proceedings.

Investigations into the alleged racket were triggered by an email sent to the police in 2020 by the translator, who at the time was being regularly engaged by the Transport Authority to assist foreign candidates who did not know Maltese or English during theory tests.

The translator’s job was to read out and translate questions. Still, he claimed that Transport Malta official Clint Mansueto contacted him several times to instruct him to indicate the correct answers for some students.

Cassola said the interpreter no longer lives in Malta but is still willing to give testimony.

He also said that before sending the email that sparked off investigations, the translator tried to report the situation at Transport Malta to different government representatives, but no one took action.

These included former minister Carmelo Abela, Sandro Craus from the Office of the Prime Minister, Jesmond Zammit from then-transport minister Ian Borg’s secretariat and parliamentary secretary responsible for Identity Malta Alex Muscat.

Craus was the head of customer care at the OPM who had given Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder middleman Melvin Theuma his phantom government job on OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri’s instructions.

‘Customer Care’ instructions for Transport Malta officials –  whether about jobs, promotions, procurement or anything else – were almost always passed on directly through Minister Borg’s chief advisor Jesmond Zammit, who was involved in several other scandals.

The whistleblower said he had also tried to set up a meeting with Minister Borg to report what was going on directly to him, but he was always referred to subordinates.

“This person is ready to testify before the Magistrate handling the case,” Cassola said. “If the said magistrate deems it useful, I can provide her with the contacts of this potential witness.”