We are at times reminded that if something looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck. We are also told that if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. The latest case of the alleged medical visas racket has a bit of both.
It started when a foreigner wrote a letter to the Health Ministry claiming serious abuse in the issue of medical visas to Libyan citizens.
The ‘whistle-blower’ alleged that, Neville Gafà, who had been recruited by the Office of the Prime Minister on a position-of-trust basis, was making money out of such visas.
Libyans, it was alleged, would send their passports in advance and pay a ‘fee’ to obtain a visa. Mr Gafà was supposed to have been given more than 42 Libyan passports to apply for visas and organise hospital stays. Mr Gafà strongly denied the allegations.
The allegations, including the details given, pointed to serious abuse by a senior government official, a representative of the Office of the Prime Minister at the Health Ministry. Not having the unmistakable characteristics and features of a duck, the matter had to be investigated to see what it was all about, which the police did and, when asked by this newspaper, said nothing untoward had been found.
To be fair to the police, they did not say they had found nothing wrong. What they did say was that “investigations were concluded in the past days” and that “based on the evidence the police hold so far, Mr Gafà will not be arraigned, as it did not result that he was involved in any criminal behaviour”.
Intentionally or not, the police did specify that their decision not to press charges against Mr Gafà was based on what they had in hand at this stage. Which implies they are not excluding the possibility that they would have to revise their decision if further evidence emerges. What Alleanza Bidla had to say on the issue needs to be borne in mind in this regard.
The Eurosceptic political group has claimed that the medical visas scandal is only the tip of the iceberg because “the racket is much wider”.
So it appears it is not the end of story and the Nationalist Party also seems determined to keep the matter at the top of the national agenda.
It does not appear there is anything to correct because something, somewhere, seems to be broken and, therefore, it needs to be fixed.
The Ministry of Justice took exception to a headline carried in this newspaper which erroneously said ‘No need to change way medical visas are issued’. It specified that, on the contrary, “Identity Malta audits its systems regularly as a normal procedure. Identity Malta still carries the necessary audits on its system and has always fine-tuned processes where necessary”. That is the way it should be.
Still, transparency and accountability demand more, not only.
Thus, it is not only a matter of criminal behaviour. There are serious ethical, political and administrative considerations/implications too. Other civil servant/s could have had a finger in the pie.
The people need to be assured there are no loopholes in the visas system that could be exploited by crooks, for whatever reason.
In a nutshell, the powers that be must leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of this and then put everybody’s mind at rest. This government’s track record in such matters, however, is cause for concern.