Tista taqra dan l-artiklu bil-Malti.
A senior official at Transport Malta has been suspended while investigations into allegations of corruption and bribery within the maritime enforcement section are carried out in the latest scandal to hit the agency.
According to information given to The Shift, the official is a manager responsible for maritime enforcement officers and has been accused of sleaze, bribery and abuse of overtime by members of his own department.
The Shift heard how several team members reported him to Transport Malta’s senior executives for his involvement in a racket that saw the deletion of hefty contravention infringement fines issued for breaking maritime rules. The accused did these favours for boat owners in return for gifts including weekend breaks in Gozo and other financial benefits.
His team members reported that their manager was approaching boat owners who had been caught breaking the rules to have their contravention cancelled in exchange for bribes and other favours. It is currently unknown whether the official acted on his own or included other officials in the racket.
Transport Malta officers also claimed that the same manager used the authority’s personnel to carry out private work inside his property and was paid overtime by the authority.
The Shift has confirmed the identity of the suspended manager but is withholding the publication of his name until Transport Malta takes official disciplinary action.
However, The Shift confirmed through multiple sources that the official concerned has been suspended from his duties. But when asked to confirm, Transport Malta CEO Jonathan Borg did not reply.
Transport Malta is no stranger to corruption scandals, with several rackets, abuse, and wrongdoing cases over the past few years.
The Shift recently revealed how new RHIBs (rigid hull inflatable boats) bought in 2021 for some €500,000 were declared unseaworthy just a year later.
The RHIBs, supplied by an importer from Rabat, Transport Minister Ian Borg’s electoral district, had to be refitted since they did not meet Transport Malta’s standards.
During an inspection just a year after being commissioned, a surveyor found structural damage on two boats that rendered them unusable.
An FOI request by The Shift for a copy of the purchase contract of these RHIBS and other information about their supplier and the procurement process used were ignored by Transport Malta, in clear breach of the FOI rules.
The Shift has now filed a call for an investigation with the Data Protection Commissioner.
Claims that Transport Malta used the same enforcement boats with an expired registration were also received by The Shift. However, the TM CEO Jonathan Borg and Minister Aaron Farrugia also refused to answer questions on the issue.
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Il-huta min rasha tintenn. Il-gwaj ta’dan il-pajjiz hu li jithaddnu nies tal- qalba politikament li jsarfu fitiment, gideb, venika,zjonijiet, korruzzjoni, tixhim fil-flus, imma l’ghar wahda li jintuzaw flus il-poplu ghal skop politiku flok ma jinstaw nies li ma jistghux ilahhqu mal-hajja.
Can’t one find a clean, corruption-scent-free corner on this little rock called Malta?
It seems this is hardly possible!.
Transport Malta has become a A House of Corruption.
Fines are removed for favours and sharing the spoil.
Driving licences given to dangerous drivers for money and votes
Hailing Cabs Tag licence ????? Something smells.
How may foreign drivers have no idea of Malta’s street names and end up having to be guided to the destination by the customer?
But these last weeks , something went bump in the night on this TAG business.
This is the inheritance of the Ministers who managed TM since 2013.
The one with the illegal swimming pool , who even ignored the Courts decisions , because MEPA ignored them also , and now is mixing around with the Diplomats of th world. The other one who does not know what hit him and lost all control of TM .
Then comes the PM who declares that corruption is Government Policy. He calls it customer care.
U xi nghidu ghal art fil-Qajjenza?? Art pubblika ser tinghata lil zviluppatur biex jimliha appartamenti! Din gravi ta!! Tal-misthija! Ghadhom ma taghlmu xejn dal hmieg politici!! Ara hawn xi hadd jahseb li dan l izviluppatur biss ser igawdi!
It is utterly unacceptable that public officers cashing in (handsomely I may add) on taxpayer funds, should refuse to respond to questions (of such serious nature) about potential and/or alleged abuses under their watch.
It is also utterly absurd that at least Opposition MPs do not also formally and forcefully raise such questions in Parliament, wherein the respective Minister is lawfully bound to provide a timely & correct reply.
At this rate the Shift should receive the “honoraria” (let alone the generous pension) such useless MPs are drawing from taxpayer funds.
The so called “suspended Officer” was present for work this morning at TM Lija
To not join in the rape and plunder of your own nation is now considered a virtue. Qatta nies mejtin bil-guh, bla principji u morali.
It’s sad when such scandals come up and we’re so used to them we actually find the whole thing boring.
Is there anything at all that’s untainted under Labour?
Here’s what really bewilders me: Whatever you think of the opposition, isn’t it high time to bring the current mob to heel at the next general elections? Even if the new batch turn out to be just as bad, there’s no way they could possibly steal nearly as much in their first term as the current lot if they are allowed to continue. Or is a bag of oranges in hand really worth so much more than saddling one’s Gahan offspring with another few billion euros of national debt? Doesn’t seem all that hard to understand for anyone. Maybe the fault actually lies with those expected to do the explaining…
When Rosie said that they are all at it for once she was right and wasn’t lieing
No surprises there,maybe he is connected?
It is so tiring and non-stop, one scandal after another and the debt keep growing and our government find its refuge as long as it doesn’t exceed the 60% of the GDP at lest for now!
Doesn’t ,matter how many oranges or bribes they take, it’s the normal, and both parties condone it. Just another day in Mafialand.
Transport Malta should investigate how the majority of the heavy motor vehicles (trucks, buses and vans) in Gozo pass the VRT test. These vehicles are not road worthy and they are killing us slowly. There is big corruption. TM are closing both eyes and have dirty hands indeed. Some of these vehicles do not even go for the test. Some have the same number by swapping the number plates. Incredible but true. Transport Malta is asleep.