MEPs are collecting signatures to force the European Commission to investigate allegations that an official at the office of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was running a visa racket.
Transcripts of Libyans claiming they bought visas from Neville Gafà were submitted in court early last month.
Ivan Grech Mintoff, who exhibited the transcripts and also made a series of allegations when testifying in court, told The Sunday Times of Malta he had met with MEPs from opposing political camps to discuss what was being referred to in the halls of Brussels as the ‘Mintoff report’.
Read: Brussels asked to probe Malta's Schengen 'visa racket'
“They are concerned about what could be going on here and want an investigation to ensure our borders are adequately protected,” he said.
They are concerned about what could be going on here
The Commission has already been asked to probe the allegations by MEP Ana Gomes, who wrote to vice president Frans Timmermans urging him to ensure the procedures to grant visas to third-country nationals were followed and to “punish exemplarily those found involved in engineering any kind of criminal activity and breaches of the Schengen visa system”.
“This racket case may harm the security of all European citizens and greatly damage the reputation of our institutions,” the MEP said in a letter.
“There are many Libyan citizens willing to testify and show receipts of the amounts paid to obtain visas.”
Read: 'How many ISIS supporters' did Malta give EU visas to, asks Nigel Farage
Ms Gomes added that many other whistleblowers were afraid to speak out due to a fear of reprisals and having their permits revoked. The decision by the Malta police not to initiate a criminal inquiry, Ms Gomes said, was “extremely worrying”.
The allegations made by Mr Grech Mintoff refer to the illicit sale of Schengen visas at the Maltese Consulate in Tripoli and the issuance of humanitarian medical visas by Mr Gafà, who denies all the allegations.
Mr Grech Mintoff insisted that if the allegations were found to be valid, corrupt officials could have issued up to 88,000 Schengen visas and an unknown number of medical visas.