Watch: Maltese Teen Found Out ID Card Duplicated When She Received Surprise Mater Dei Appointment, Azzopardi Warns
Jason Azzopardi’s exposure of an alleged identity card racket has taken a shocking turn.
In his latest announcement, the prominent lawyer and former PN MP said the mother of a 15-year-old Maltese girl opened up to him about her daughter’s ID card had been duplicated.
He said the 15-year-old received a letter at home informing her of an upcoming appointment at Mater Dei to treat a serious illness she didn’t suffer from.
Concerned and confused, the mother called up Mater Dei who insisted that her daughter indeed had an appointment and asked her who her referring doctor was.
She clarified that her daughter didn’t need to see a doctor, gave the Mater Dei worker her ID card and asked them to check her file. The Mater Dei employee got back to her to inform her that their records state her daughter had been visiting Mater Dei to treat this particular illness since 2020.
“That’s when the mother realised that they were talking about a completely different person,” Azzopardi said. “This means that Identity Malta duplicated a 15-year-old Maltese person’s ID card and gave it to someone else.”
He went on to warn that, while the majority of the cases he has heard of involve new ID cards issued to existing addresses, this isn’t the only case of a duplicate ID card to have reached his ears.
Upon Azzopardi’s request, a magisterial inquiry has been opened into the alleged racket, which he described as Malta’s biggest corruption scandal concerning a government agency or department.
According to Azzopardi’s claims under oath, the alleged €60 million identity fraud racket involving Identita’ (formerly Identity Malta) saw thousands of fraudulent identity cards being issued to third-country nationals, potentially undermining Malta’s immigration system and the integrity of European Union residency rights.
Alleged to have started operating in 2015, the scandal reportedly saw approximately 18,000 false Maltese identity cards issued to individuals primarily from Egypt and Libya.
Each document was allegedly sold for prices ranging from €2,000 to €8,000, generating an estimated €60 million for those involved. And what’s more, falsified documents were also allegedly sent to these individuals to addresses which they not only lived in, but those belonging to Maltese citizens who had no idea of the racket.
Identita’ has since denied these claims, saying an investigation had been conducted and some information had been passed to the police about “some individuals”.
Azzopardi urged anyone who has received mail addressed to a foreign national they never heard of to approach a lawyer so they can hand them over to the inquiry.
He also encouraged people to file an online report with the Data Commissioner, as “Identita’ has abused their personal data and handed it over to third parties as a corrupt practice.”
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