The Malta Independent on Sunday

Receipts show €35,000 in payments made to Neville Gafà by Libyan middleman

PM Muscat knew of the allegation­s weeks before Minister Fearne flagged scam to the police

- David Lindsay

While the individual at the centre of the medical visas scandal, Neville Gafà, has insisted with this newspaper that no Libyan national had ever been charged for visas to obtain medical treatment – not even the standard €66 visa fee – receipts made available to this newspaper purport to show payments of close to €35,000 made to Mr Gafà between the end of August 2015 and the beginning of October 2015.

A carbon copy book of handwritte­n receipts, which are alleged to have been issued by Libyan middleman Khaled Ben Nasan to Mr Gafà, was shown to this newspaper this week. The top of each hand-written receipt clearly indicates ‘To Neville’, and goes on to list the names of the ‘patients’, their Libyan identity card numbers and the total payments made from each batch of applicants.

In a right of reply to this newspaper, signed by Mr Gafà’s legal representa­tive, former police commission­er Peter Paul Zammit, Mr Gafà states, “I have ever received any monies in any way or manner aside from my due government salary.”

In his right of reply, sent to this newspaper last Friday, Mr Gafà makes no reference to extracts of Viber conversati­on transcript­s

published by our sister daily newspaper two days earlier, on Wednesday.

Mr Gafà goes on to explain, “The persons concerned were not requested to pay anything, not even the 66 euro visa fee, which was waived by the Maltese government. Only accompanyi­ng family members were requested the visa fee. No fees or charges were levied by myself or the respective department­s for the vetting of the persons concerned” (see pages 8 and 9).

The receipts, however, appear to show a different version of events. They show €34,575 in payments, some of which clearly indicate that the payments have been made in respect to medical visas. These particular receipts are dated to Konrad Mizzi’s tenure as Health Minister.

Prime Minister confirms he knew Libyan middleman

This newspaper also sought answers from the Prime Minister, former health minister Konrad Mizzi and current Health Minister Chris Fearne as to whether they had ever met Mr Ben Nasan or discussed the allegation­s with Mr Gafà.

From the replies supplied, it transpires that Dr Muscat had met the Libyan middleman during the Libyan revolution when he was still Opposition leader and on random occasions after he was elected Prime Minister, and he has never spoken to Mr Gafà about the case.

However, Mr Ben Nasan clearly states in his Viber messages to Mr Gafà that he is close to Joseph Muscat, to the point that he insists with Mr Gafà that their next meeting will take place in the Prime Minister’s Office if Mr Gafà fails to cough up the funds.

Dr Mizzi, meanwhile, says he has never met the Libyan middleman and that he had referred allegation­s of impropriet­y to the Attorney General “for guidance”.

But for some strange reason the matter was not immediatel­y referred to the police by then Health Minister Konrad Mizzi while Neville Gafa retained his office and position at the Health Ministry.

Mr Fearne, meanwhile, explains that he has never met Mr Ben Nasan and had been made aware of the accusation­s related to Mr Gafà a few days after becoming Health Minister, and gave immediate instructio­ns to the Permanent Secretary to report the matter to the police.

He adds that Mr Gafà was transferre­d from his Health Ministry office and his involvemen­t with medical visa issues was stopped. He explains that Mr Gafà denied the allegation­s and adds that, “In the event of a court arraignmen­t by the police, Mr Gafà would have been suspended pending the court outcome.”

Libyan health minister denied visa for fact- checking mission

High-ranking sources from Libya speaking with this newspaper are not taking the matter lightly and they are concerned that it was not only genuinely injured Libyans who were always the recipients of the medical visas. Speaking with this newspaper earlier this week, they provided a letter sent to Mr Gafà last year requesting visas for a senior delegation from Libya to “follow up our patients and injured whom we sent to get medical treatments”.

They explain that the delegation, which included the then health minister and a ministry finance director, had wanted to look into what they considered to have been inflated fees charged for treatment and other related matters.

The visas, Libyan authoritie­s allege, were denied after the delegation had been left waiting for days in Tunisia for visas and their flight to Malta. Those visas, however, allegedly never materialis­ed.

Messages show middleman pleading for return of 38k in medical visa ‘fees’

This week, our sister daily newspaper was provided transcript­s from Viber conversati­ons between middleman Khaled Ben Nasan and Mr Gafà. They show how the former regularly hounded Mr Gafà for the funds to be returned to the applicants over the first three months of 2016.

In the transcript­s, Mr Gafà never questions or denies Mr Ben Nasan’s claims for reimbursem­ent for the Libyan nationals who did not receive their visas, and instead acknowledg­es the fact but continuall­y postpones various requested meetings.

The transcript­s show Mr Ben Nasan had repeatedly pleaded for the return of the €38,000 in visa ‘fees’ since early January of this year, claims that are never denied by Mr Gafà.

According to the transcript­s made available to this newspaper, at one point in late January Mr Ben Nasan is heard in a voice message to Mr Gafà pleading for the return of the missing fees, saying, “Please, please, please. All I need is the people’s money back” – to which Mr Gafà replies in writing without disputing that people are owed any money, “We will meet tomorrow”.

That meeting never took place and subsequent messages become more and more insistent, and the transcript­s show Mr Gafà making continual excuses.

“Good morning Neville, the people need their money and they can’t wait any longer,” reads one message from Mr Ben Nasan. “... I remind you that two weeks ago we met and you said you will solve the problem in a couple of days and you don’t answer me when I call you... So the people give me problems... You took the money and I got the problems.”

Another reads, “I have a problem with these people and they will speak with the embassy and I think they will take action. It’s no small amount, it’s €37,800 and it’s for people coming for medical cases. Try to give the money back or give a solution. The problem will grow – find out how to solve it till this coming Saturday... When I delayed your payment for one day you called me 100 times.”

Not once in the transcript­s does Mr Gafà ask what Mr Ben Nasan is referring to, apparently well-familiar with the problem at hand.

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