Accomplice in illegal passport-stamping scheme jailed

A court has jailed a man who last week admitted to his part in a passport-stamping scheme that would illegally extend the stay of foreign residents in Malta.

Macedonian man Zoran Talevski, 36, residing in Gzira, was handed a six-month effective jail term by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech this morning.

Talevski had pleaded guilty to multiple charges relating to the corruption of a public officials and various breaches of local immigration regulations during his arraignment.

The court had been told how the accused teamed up with a corrupt immigration officer who would stamp the passport of foreign residents in such a manner as to extend their stay in Malta in breach of local immigration regulations. 

While handing the man his sentence this morning, magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, ruled that the court could not pronounce guilt on all charges, despite the accused having registered an admission.

“It is certainly not for the court to seek to decipher what the prosecuting officer had in mind,” magistrate Frendo Dimech said, as she cleared the accused of the first two charges: complicity in the falsification of Maltese passport stamps and the commission of a continuous offence.

The prosecution “had worded the charges in a convoluted manner which lacked the clarity essential for ensuring that the accused could prepare his defence,” observed the magistrate, herself a former prosecutor and deputy Attorney General.

In view of his admission, however, the accused was declared guilty of the other charges, relating to offences under the Immigration Act and the Passports Ordnance and was handed a 6-month effective jail term. 

The court remarked that through his “fraudulent and malicious” behaviour, the State’s security measures had been rendered useless.

The immigration official involved in the scheme had been found guilty in separate proceedings and handed a two-year prison sentence suspended for four, as well as having her employment terminated.

Inspector Frankie Sammut prosecuted. Lawyer David Bonello was defence counsel to Talevski.