A Transport Malta Roads Directorate manager, his assistant and a field officer have been arrested and suspended from their job over a bribery investigation involving a road works tender.

The employees are being suspended pending the outcome of the inquiry- Transport Malta

Architect Daniel Cordina, a manager at the directorate, his assistant Gordon Zammit, also an architect, and field officer John Portelli were held after Fraud Squad police raided their offices yesterday.

Sources said the raid was carried out at about midday and the police arrested the three employees on whom they had received information related to alleged bribery.

Other sources said the tender was related to road works but the contract had not been awarded recently. It is still unclear what the value of the contract was or where the road works were carried out.

Transport Malta issued a curt statement saying an inquiry was under way and that the employees were being suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.

It said it was collaborating with the police but did not give the names of the employees or explain why they had been arrested.

When contacted, a spokesman for the authority said the inquiry was being conducted by the police so any information on the investigation had to come from them. The spokesman said no further information could be made available due to the ongoing investigation.

Transport Malta was involved in a massive police investigation in June 2010 over alleged bribery at the Licensing and Testing Office.

Following a six-month investigation, 230 people, including three Transport Malta officials, were charged in connection with hundreds of driving licences granted to people who had not even sat for a test.

The people were suspected to have paid Transport Malta officials to be given additional driving licences – to drive a truck or a motorcycle, for example – without taking the necessary test.