Lawyer Louise Anne Pulis was probably expecting a pile of weathered adverts when she asked her husband to check the letterbox of a long-vacant property. Imagine their surprise when they discovered mail addressed to four different people who were apparently registered at their address.
Pulis expressed her outrage on social media, saying, “Every day we hear about the Identity scandal… It wasn’t correspondence for just one person, nor two, nor three… but for four different people!!! Shame on you, if you have any!”
Identity Malta has advised property owners to report any irregular mail, and urged companies and local services to verify clients’ addresses with official documents.
The ‘racket’ at Identity Malta made headlines when former MP and lawyer Jason Azzopardi filed a 60-page request for a magisterial inquiry into the issuing of documents for some 18,000 Third Country Nationals (TCNs) for thousands of euro, issued on the back of marriage certificates and other documents fabricated by Identità officials since 2015.
MP Darren Carabott criticised the government’s handling of the scandal, especially Minister Byron Camilleri’s refusal to release the results of an internal inquiry into 18,000 fraudulent identity cards.
Carabott said on Facebook: “This response shows how much this government wants to keep things hidden and make scandals disappear. Minister, we will not forget what you and the government are trying to conceal.”
Azzopardi also revealed that four families had recently visited Birkirkara Police Station to report their home addresses being stolen and used to issue identity cards to foreigners.
He shared a case where a 15-year-old girl’s identity card number was allegedly duplicated and used by a foreign national to access healthcare at Mater Dei Hospital, and condemned the situation as “CORRUPTION… They have STOLEN ALL of our IDENTITY CARDS!!”
The Ministry of Home Affairs, Security, and Employment defended its actions in a press release, stating that “Justice doesn’t happen through media reports but by taking necessary actions when faced with allegations.”
The Ministry claimed Identity Malta acted appropriately by referring the matter to the police after an internal investigation by its Compliance Section and the Expatriates Unit, adding, “By making these demands, the Opposition risks prejudicing the case, possibly hindering justice.”
Azzopardi questioned why the police force had not requested a magisterial inquiry based on the information it received in November 2022.
Public scepticism remains high despite the government’s assurances. Critics argue that withholding the internal inquiry’s findings only fuels suspicion.
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Identity Malta is adviced by the Minister to report to the sleeping commissioner their fraudulent issue of fake duplicate ID cards to TWC persons for a sum of a few thousand euros. The minister must be smoking cannabis for breakfast.
With ANGLU GAFA PLEASE
I don’t think it’s possible for Malta to sink much lower. Every day there is another chapter in the sorry story of a once proud island state (country or nation is far too grand a title) sinking into the abyss.
It won’t be long, sadly, until it’s too late to avoid the point of no return. Obviously, the inevitable will not affect the likes of Mr Abela and his cronies as they will have bled the country dry by then and will no doubt live happily ever after on the proceeds.
It is a mere sixty years or so since independence, but the Maltese have nobody but themselves to blame for the sorry state that they find themselves in, although when you read the daily news, the current state of affairs is inevitably the fault of the ‘foreigners’!
Be advised that a colleague of mine is going around in circles. He was issued with a clinic appointment at MHC without having any knowledge for same. ” T standard reply (twice) from IDentita was to contact the Health Authorities…..!!!!!!!
We have reached that point of no return already…..
Identity theft is a very serious thing, but obviously no one will pay for it in Malta. In any case the government is aware of this and maybe all these false identities were given to Arab people
it seems very convienent for the authorities to quote always the song….”we have referred the matter to the police”, possibly with ad addition that “the authority has initiated a separate investigation”. today these statements carry no value as no one believes them. we have seen the outcome of the various fraud cases involving Transport Malta – which had been reported to the police and also subject to an internal investigation. the outcome is/was…..nothing, with the possible fraud still ongoing.
So Hon Minister, stop making a fool of yourself – either make a clean sweep of this authority and put in place people with integrity and internal mechanisms that protect the most valuable possession we have…ie, our identity, or else pack and go home. Maybe the after you is a tad less complacent to the corruption and fraud happening under your watch.
at this stage one would also ask what the Data Protection Commission is doing about this whole story. Unless its expecting that someone files a report to wake up.
My complaint to Data protection: On top of the personal intrusion, my medical records are now in a different name to that on my ID Card.
Their reply: Following an investigation carried out by this Office, it was established that the IT system produced an unexpected long delay in the automatic updating of reference demographic data that is consumed and displayed by myHealth application. As a result of this technical error, the unexpected delay might have given you the impression that there was malicious intent behind the display of superseded data.
So Data Protection are either useless or complicit!
Data protection law?? This ia very serious matter as it is also a threat not just to our country but also to other EU countries. I just hope that the EU takes action from its end to safeguard our security as our goverment does not care!! Only god knows what kind of persons were issued with these false ids. Terrorists drug dealers human traffickers??