A woman used to accept bribes from workers wishing to be boarded out while telling them she was handing the cash to another official, a court has found.

The conclusion was reached by Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit as she acquitted former customer care officer Thomas Woods of corruption and extortion.

Mr Woods used to work at the Ministry of Health where he handled applications from workers who claimed invalidity and applied to be boarded out. 

He always denied soliciting or accepting money from such workers although he occasionally accepted tokens of appreciation, without ever asking for them.

The case was instituted in 2007 following a complaint by psychiatrist (later minister) Joe Cassar.

He had reported how a worker, John Camilleri, alleged that he was told by ministry official Saverin Sinagra that he should speak to the accused and was expected to pay between Lm600 and Lm700 (€1,610)  for his boarding out application to proceed.

Mr Camilleri refused to pay, whereupon Ms Sinagra told him the process would stop there and she could not help him further.

When questioned by the police, Ms Sinagra (who underwent separate court proceedings) admitted to seeking the money and claimed she handed them to Thomas Woods. This had happened between four and six times.

Mr Camilleri confirmed that Sinagra had asked him for money and had told him that she would hand it over to Mr Woods. He refused and told Dr Cassar, who referred him to the ministry.

He had then spoken to Mr Woods, who denied he ever sought money. At that time they noticed that somebody had stopped Mr Camilleri's application to be boarded out.

Other witnesses confirmed that they were asked for money by Ms Sinagra but were never asked for money by Mr Woods.

Dr Cassar confirmed that Mr Camilleri had told him that a bribe had been requested. He had advised him not to pay anything, and alerted then-Minister for social security Dolores Cristina.

The court found that while Ms Sinagra solicited the money and told applicants she would hand the cash to Mr Woods, in actual fact no arrangement existed between her and Mr Woods.

The court said it believed that she was keeping all the money herself.  It noted that no one had presented any shred of evidence against Mr Wood. The allegations of corruption and extortion of money therefore did not result.

Mr Woods was cleared of all charges.