Man whose aunt bribed TM officials to skip the queue for driving test now drives minibuses
A man whose aunt had bribed Transport Malta instructors to "expedite" the process of getting his licence in 2022, is today a minibus driver, a court was told on Monday.This emerged as criminal proceedings against former Transport Malta dire
A man whose aunt had bribed Transport Malta instructors to "expedite" the process of getting his licence in 2022, is today a minibus driver, a court was told on Monday.
This emerged as criminal proceedings against former Transport Malta director Clint Mansueto and two of his former subordinates: Raul Antonio Pace and Philip Endrick Zammit, continued before magistrate Rachel Montebello on Monday.
All three men are denying charges related to the driving tests racket.
Witness Maria Assunta Camilleri testified on Monday.
Camilleri had been arraigned herself in 2022 and pleaded guilty in June this year, to trading in influence and complicity in the bribery of a public official in connection with the Transport Malta bribery racket. She was handed a two-year Probation Order.
Magistrate Montebello was informed that the woman had not appealed this conviction.
On the witness stand, prosecutor Abigail Caruana Vella asked the woman about several texts that she had sent Mansueto about her nephew who was due to sit for driver's licence tests, and had offered him money to make sure her nephew passed.
Camilleri recognised Clint Mansueto in the courtroom, telling the court that she only knew him by his surname. "My nephew went to him for his theory test during the COVID-19 pandemic. They told me that the nearest exam slot was in six months' time, so I spoke to Jesmond Zammit to see whether they could hurry things up and within two weeks it was done."
Asked who Jesmond Zammit was, the woman said that he was a Labour canvasser who had asked her mother in-law whether she needed anything, during a pre-election house visit to the residence which Camilleri shared with her relative. She had mentioned the test.
"He told her 'I will put you in touch with a certain Mansueto and he will take care of it,'" the woman recalled. Zammit had provided the woman with Mansueto's mobile phone number, to which she had sent a text asking for this favour. "He told me that he would do his best and within two weeks the test was held."
The witness added that she had "erased everything" from her phone after the men were charged.
Her nephew had failed his first test, but had passed on the second attempt, she added.
"Then there were two other people who had the same problem, one was an Arab and another man was a friend of my sister's husband. I met with them and told them to speak to Mansueto, because he'll get it done for you."
The woman claimed that gratitude had been the only reason why she had given €50 to Mansueto before the test and said that she had told her nephew to do the same on the date of the test. "I had given him the €50 because I wanted to, not because he asked for anything. I went to Transport Malta myself and handed him the money as a gesture of thanks."
"Did he take them?" asked the magistrate. "To tell you the truth he didn't want them, but I insisted."
Before her nephew's theory test, she had texted Mansueto asking about the arrangements.
The following November, she had texted Mansueto again, this time about the two men she had referred to him, and had also sent him a third SMS that month.
She had told the Arab man who had wanted to obtain a motorcycle licence, to give Mansueto €50 "as a thank you," she said. The man had told her that he had been unable to obtain a licence because he had no fixed address.
She had also texted Mansueto with updates, telling him that the man was going to sit for his test on a certain date. She recalled that he had told her to tell her nephew to pay attention, because the youth had not attended his first test.
She had gone to apply for the nephew's commercial passenger carriage licence, which is known as a CPC. "[Mansueto] would let him skip the queue. Instead of six months I would wait two weeks," said the woman.
Her nephew had failed his coach driver test and had to sit for it again, the woman said.
When asked what she had meant by asking Mansueto to "help" her nephew, she replied that he had provided assistance because the candidate could not read.
She insisted that she had told her nephew to hand him the €50. "A couple of days to a week later" she had gone to Mansueto and handed him another €50 herself, "as a thank you", which he had accepted after initially refusing.
Are you sure he would tell you "no I don't want them"? asked the magistrate. The woman replied that she was.
"Today he drives minibuses," the woman told the court. The case continues.
Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi is appearing for Mansueto, lawyers Joe Giglio and Roberta Bonello are representing Pace. Lawyer Herman Mula is defence counsel to Zammit.
Prosecutor Abigail Caruana Vella from the Office of the Attorney General assisted Police Inspector Wayne Borg.
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