A security officer recruited to work at Gozo General Hospital despite having been convicted abroad for drug trafficking has been removed from his post following revelations by The Shift, while his employer is now facing criminal proceedings over the illegal deployment.
The Shift is informed that Chris Mizzi, better known as “Il-Lilly“, no longer works at Gozo General Hospital after hospital management took immediate steps to remove him once his employment was exposed by this newsroom earlier this year.
Sources close to the hospital confirmed that Mizzi was dismissed shortly after The Shift revealed in April that he had been recruited by private security contractor Signal 8 despite having recently been convicted by a French court for his role in a large-scale nitrous oxide trafficking operation.
The Shift has also established that the police have since initiated court proceedings against security company Signal 8 after investigations found that Mizzi did not possess the licence required by law to work as a private security officer.
The embarrassing episode happened when the Gozo General Hospital fell under the political responsibility of Gozitan Minister Jo Etienne Abela.
Under Maltese law, individuals employed by private security companies must hold a licence issued by the police. Such licences are generally refused to persons with criminal convictions, including those handed down by foreign courts.
Mizzi had been convicted in France together with two other Gozitan men after authorities dismantled a criminal network distributing thousands of nitrous oxide canisters (also known as laughing gas) across ski resorts in the Savoie region. French investigators seized more than 6,000 canisters with an estimated street value of around €340,000.
The three men received suspended prison sentences and were banned from entering France for five years.
Despite that conviction, Mizzi was subsequently employed by Signal 8 and assigned to Gozo General Hospital, where he worked as a security officer in a facility treating vulnerable patients.
His recruitment had raised serious questions about the vetting procedures adopted by Signal 8, which holds a government contract to provide security personnel at the public hospital, and about the oversight exercised by the Gozo Hospital authorities responsible for the contract.
Following The Shift’s revelations, hospital management moved swiftly to ensure Mizzi was removed from the premises, according to sources close to the matter.
The latest developments have now gone a step further, with the police filing criminal charges against Signal 8 over the employment of an unlicensed security officer.
The Shift had previously revealed that the employment of Mizzi at Gozo General Hospital had prompted concern among hospital staff, particularly because of his recent criminal conviction abroad and the ward to which he had been assigned – the Short Stay Ward, which caters for vulnerable patients, including individuals with substance abuse issues.
Several employees of the Gozo Hospital have been asked to give their testimony in the ongoing court case, The Shift is informed.
Questions to Signal 8 owner Jovan Grech remained unanswered.
