NGO Repubblika on Wednesday said it has filed a sworn application in Court requesting a magisterial inquiry following reports over unexplained payments to former CEO of Transport Malta James Piscopo.
In a statement, Repubblika referred to reports by Times of Malta, Amphora Media, and MaltaToday on Tuesday, regarding unexplained payments made to former Labour Party CEO and head of various government agencies, James Piscopo.
The reports allege potential suspicious payments linking blacklisted consultant Shiv Nair, a former Maltese government adviser who was blacklisted by the World Bank for fraud and corruption, to Malta’s public transport contract and the Kappara junction project, during a financial investigation of Piscopo.
Repubblika President Vicki Ann Cremona said that it is the right of citizens to demand that institutions investigate corruption.
“It is our duty to ensure that journalists’ reports, which expose them to risk, do not simply gather dust but instead lead to the state fulfilling its role and ensuring justice is served,” she said.
Cremona said that is why these details, long known to the police and now known to everyone, must be investigated, and, if necessary, all legal action must be taken.
The NGO said that in 2020, Times of Malta cited multiple sources who claimed that the then-Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri, had told Yorgen Fenech that James Piscopo had more than €600,000 hidden in an offshore bank account.
“These funds were allegedly linked to bribery or other illegal activities, and sources had said that Schembri had handed Fenech a handwritten note detailing money movements in the account between 2015 and 2016. This note was purportedly written by Piscopo himself, and Schembri urged Fenech to pass it on to his media contacts,” Repubblika said.
It said that Tuesday’s reports said that following these allegations in 2020, police investigations revealed that Piscopo had received so-called suspicious payments in 2015.
Repubblika said that these payments, deemed suspicious, were officially recorded as consultancy fees and amounted to €30,000, and Piscopo received them while he was leading Transport Malta.
“The payments coincided with Transport Malta’s implementation of the Kappara Junction project and the period when a new company took over Malta’s public transport bus service,” Repubblika said.
Reports also said that documents which have been seen by the newsrooms indicated that the police had investigated Piscopo for corruption, tax evasion, and money laundering, allegedly committed during his time at Transport Malta and later at the Lands Authority.
Repubblika said that reports also said that the police have been aware for years that Piscopo opened multiple bank accounts in Malta and abroad, both in his name and under trusts.
“However, no magisterial inquiry appears to have been requested until now,” Repubblika said.
The application for a magisterial inquiry was signed on behalf of Repubblika by lawyer Jason Azzopardi.