By Libya Herald reporters.
Tunis, 17 July 2017:
The alleged middleman in a medical visa racket that targeted Libyan nationals has denied charges of extortion and fraud in Malta and has claimed a Maltese official masterminded the whole operation.
Khaled Ben Nasan, variously described as Libyan and Syrian, has accused Maltese health official Neville Gafa of running an operation that promised to provide Libyans with Maltese medical visas. But, he said, often these visas would never materialise. According to Maltese press reports, Ben Nasan claimed in court that that Gafa had made €38,000 from the scheme.
He said he only acted as a link between the applicants and Gafa. He claimed he became suspicious when Gafa started asking for between €1,500 and €2,500 for every medical visa application he said he would then forward for processing. Receipts were never issued.
Giving evidence as a witness Gafa denied the claims. He said Ben Nasan had threatened to release incriminating information and started asking him for money. Gafa also said Ben Nasan had since tried to contact him to resume the medical visa business.
The court was told that last July police had raided Gafa’s old office and found no incriminating evidence. Ben Nasan’s counsel asked police inspector Rennie Stivala: “How could you expect to find anything in an office vacated by Mr Gafa months earlier?”
The case continues.
