A Malta Maritime Authority (MMA) official facing corruption charges in the mariners’ licences bribery scandal has alleged that his superior, who is also indicted in the case, had reassured him that a ministry official would cover up for their frauds.

In his interrogation at the police depot the day after his arrest on 13 June, MMA clerk Ivan Muscat told investigators that his manager, John Farrugia, had admitted there were fake navigators’ course certificates presented for the issuing of licences, but told him not to worry as “someone in the ministry” would cover them.

In his statement, Muscat, 30, recounted how between two and three years ago he had realised there were suspicious certificates that were supposedly issued by MCAST. When he had approached his manager about it, Farrugia had at first told Muscat there was nothing wrong.

“I remained sceptical,” Muscat told the police, until Farrugia, 60, approached him later admitting they were not genuine certificates, asking him “to close an eye” and promising that “the story would stop there”.

“But it didn’t stop there,” Muscat added. “I started receiving much more of them (forged certificates) and I started feeling afraid because I was visible, there was my signature.”

It was at this point that Muscat alleged his superior invoked an unnamed ministry official – presumably from the Competitiveness Ministry that is in charge of MMA.

“I spoke to him again and he told me not to be afraid because he knew someone in the ministry who could cover up for us,” Muscat said.

The revelation comes after weeks of damage control and strong denials from Competitiveness Minister Censu Galea in the face of relentless attacks from the Opposition claiming that he was “a close friend” of Farrugia.

Meanwhile in his interrogation, Farrugia himself admitted his manoeuvrings and also named a middleman, contractor Alfred Mizzi from Marsaskala – a person unknown to Muscat as he had never met him.

Muscat said that for the first forged application he processed since he had talked to Farrugia he was given Lm20 by his superior. Eventually he started getting Lm50 every month and a half for an average of three to five forged applications a week.

The police have already arraigned Farrugia and Muscat accusing them of forming a society with a criminal intent through the falsification of MCAST documents, punishable by four years’ imprisonment or more. They were also charged with accepting bribes for personal profits and with having offered advantages to those who bribed them.

The two authority officials will stand accused in front of Magistrate Audrey Demicoli on 21 August.

According to prosecuting Inspector Ian Joseph Abdilla, around 440 individuals interrogated admitted to having paid bribes to the two officials to get the mariners’ license.

The scandal has also seen three police officers implicated among the suspected corrupters, although no charges have been brought against them so far. They are two constables and a police sergeant, interrogated upon suspicions that they had acquired maritime licenses illegally by paying bribes.

Police sources say kickbacks ranged from Lm75 to around Lm250, increasing along the years since the MCAST mariners’ license exam was introduced in 2001.

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2007/07/29/N3.html