The Nationalist Party has demanded an explanation from the police commissioner on the police’s investigation into “suspicious payments” related to a former Transport Malta official.
In a statement, the PN referred to a joint investigation by The Times of Malta, MaltaToday, and Amphora Media, which identified a number of consultancy payments received by former Labour Party CEO James Piscopo as “suspicious”.
These payments appear to have been made during the same period in which Piscopo, as CEO of Transport Malta, was responsible for awarding the public transport concession to a Spanish operator and for overseeing the construction of the Kappara junction, also contracted to a Spanish company, the PN said.
These payments are linked to Shiv Nair, a businessman blacklisted by the World Bank due to fraud and corruption, yet who was nevertheless engaged to act as a consultant to the Labour Government.
The PN asks: “where is Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà? Angelo Gafà must immediately inform the Maltese and Gozitan public about the status of this investigation and what action will be taken against key figures within the Labour Party.”
“Every contract awarded by the Labour Government seems to be tainted by corruption – now even the Kappara junction project and the public transport concession. It is unacceptable that scandal after scandal arises, yet no one is held accountable,” the PN said.
These investigations further confirm “Robert Abela’s urgency in shutting down all forms of scrutiny directed at him. His latest move appears to be a push to remove the right to magisterial inquiries, as well as his refusal to publish a declaration of assets for himself and his Ministers,” the PN said.
Robert Abela knows he has only one route left: to seize total control – because he is surrounded by the collapse of a system built on corrupt foundations, the PN said.
