Court orders Identità officials to be investigated over conflicting testimony

A magistrate has ordered the police commissioner to investigate two officials from government agency Identità after they gave conflicting testimony in court.

The officials appeared as witnesses in proceedings against an Egyptian man who is accused of giving false information to obtain a residency permit in Malta. The Egyptian man, Moustafa Ata Moussa Darwish, had falsely told the agency he was married to a British woman.
But the case against Darwish took a twist when Identità officials in court gave conflicting versions as to whether the man’s file was available, leading Magistrate Kevan Azzopardi to order a police investigation.

Darwish was issued a permit in March 2023 but the residency card was revoked on police orders last month.

Chief information officer Stefano Rodoligo said he had asked an official from the Expats section at Identità to search for the file in the agency’s archives.

Rodoligo testified that Isaac Micallef, from the Expats section, had personally taken the requested file to his office. The file contained documentation related to the accused’s application for a permit as a non-EU family member.

Rodoligo’s testimony raised eyebrows with the magistrate asking him whether he was sure of what he was saying. Just before Rodoligo, Micallef had told the court that he found no trace of the file on the agency system or in the archives.

The court then ordered Micallef to reiterate what he had said in the presence of Rodoligo. Micallef again confirmed that he had not found the file he had been tasked to look up a week ago. Micallef had been given a list of names to look up.

Woman denies being married to accused

Another witness was an English woman, who was supposedly married to the accused. She said that in 2022 an official from Identity Malta, as the agency was known then, called to ask her whether she had sponsored any family member to take up residence in Malta.

She denied the claim via email and heard nothing else until receiving a more recent call from Inspector Lara Butters from the police Immigration Unit, who asked whether she was married and whether she had ever travelled to Egypt or had Egyptian relatives.

The woman testified that she had nothing to do with any Egyptian nationals, denying ever being married to the accused.

This case, like two others in which Egyptian men admitted guilt and were sentenced to six months in prison, came to light after an internal investigation by Identità’s Compliance Unit.

The case was then passed on to the police for further investigation.

Former official inputted application details in computer

Under oath, Butters confirmed the residence permit was issued on false premises by speaking to the woman because there was no file at Identità. She testified that there was only an application on the computer.

Pressed by the defence lawyer, Butters conceded that Identità official, Maria Spiteri, who used to work at the agency’s expatriates section, inputted application details on the computer system.

Of note is the fact that in replies to questions by MaltaToday Identità had refrained from saying whether its internal investigation into the racket had flagged wrongdoing by its own officials. The agency would only say that it is cooperating with an ongoing police investigation.

Inspector Hubert Gerada testified that Darwish entered Malta irregularly in August 2018 as part of a group of 59 people rescued at sea. He had no personal documents but only a Samsung mobile phone. Nonetheless, in June 2022, Darwish travelled to Istanbul with an Egyptian passport and a Maltese residence permit.

A representative from the International Protection Agency said that the accused’s application for asylum status was rejected and was still subject to appeal.

The accused’s residence permit was revoked after it turned out that it was allegedly obtained by means of a false declaration.

The court upheld a request for bail with the owner of a barber shop where Darwish was regularly employed, stepped in as guarantor. The accused’s employer was to secure a €5,000 third-party guarantee over and above a €10,000 personal guarantee binding the accused.

Inspector Lara Butters and Christian Abela prosecuted. Lawyers Nicholas Mifsud and Tiziana Micallef appeared for Darwish. The case continues.