A woman has received a voting document for the upcoming general election which has all her details in place but for the most important of all: the photo does not show her, but someone else.
The Malta Independent has seen both the ID card and the voting document of the woman and can verity that both are authentic. It is understood that the Electoral Commission is investigating the matter.
The incident is not the only one. Other cases are being cited on social media. This newsroom had revealed a wider collapse of the registry at Identity Malta but Minister for Justice Owen Bonnici had brushed off our claims as superfluous and denied a crisis existed.
But scanned copies of a woman’s identity card and voting document reveal serious failures within Identity Malta with the voting document holding the same name, ID number, and address, but a different photo.
PN Electoral candidate for the 7th District, Ian Vassallo Hagi has also claimed that his father also received an extra voting document registered to his household which had the photograph of his father with a different name and ID card .
He would later tell this newsroom that the police officer on duty did not allow him to take a photograph of the document.
Last March, an internal report leaked to The Malta Independent on Sunday revealed that out of a sample of 300 people on the ID card registry, 80 individuals were found to be holding more than one ID card.
The newsroom also reported that the collapse of the ID card system had serious repercussions on the electoral registry, with people set to obtain more than one voting document.
Sources would reveal that a man in Sliema, who until October 2012 held the ID card number: **902A (**digits withheld to protect privacy) was no longer found on the electoral registry as of October 2014.
A man from Swieqi, registered in the electoral registry with ID card number **920A, in October 2016 found himself with two ID cards: **920A and **902A, the latter previously held by the man from Sliema who disappeared from the registry in 2014.
PN Leader Simon Busuttil has previously expressed a lack of faith in the electoral commission, and insisted that his party would remain vigilant on the outcome of the election result. PN Deputy Leader Beppe Fenech Adami raised the issue in Parliament.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Justice Minister Owen Bonnici had initially alleged that the documents published by The Malta Independent had been fabricated.
However, Identity Malta would later take ownership of the documents.
Minister Bonnici, in a meeting with the editors from this newsroom, said that the government did not intend to claim that TMI had created the documents, but rather that the newsroom had alleged that Identity Malta took a sample out of the whole population.
In a press statement, the minister would say that around 300 persons had an ID card ending with the letter P on a system introduced by the previous administration, regarding a person who changes their status.
He said that around 80 of these persons were eventually given a new status which was reflected in another ID card instead of the old one, adding that what was quoted in the articles was not an exercise, but just an internal document to show the movement from persons with a P on their ID card to an ID Card with another category.
“In no way does this mean that they have two ID cards,” he said.
This is the first election since the setting up of Identity Malta, the entity that created by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to execute the functions and duties of the public administration in matters relating to passports, identity documents, work and residence permits for expatriates, land registration and registration of public deeds, acts of civil status and individual investment programmes.
The government entity has faced one crisis after another, first with the politically-charged and controversial Individual Investment Programme (IIP) which facilitates the sale of Maltese/EU passport should the applications obtain a residence in Malta and reside here for a year.
On 9 December, the PN presented a judicial protest against the Electoral Commission, Identity Malta and Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, claiming that the details of foreigners being granted Maltese citizenship are not being passed on to the Electoral Commission.
Addressing the media that day, PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami said it is unacceptable that no information about people being granted Maltese citizenship together with the right to vote is being given to the Electoral Commission.
The agency has also faced problems with the issuing of visas. However, the largest crisis of all, involves former Labour Party treasurer and candidate, accountant Joe Sammut, who was charged with fraud, misappropriation of funds, money laundering and the falsification of documents by allegedly helping Libyans obtain residence permits through the creation of fictitious companies.
PM from The Malta Independent on Vimeo.
Prime Minister' reaction
Meanwhile, when asked to react, the Prime Minister said that he has full faith in the electoral process and in the commission. He referred to a meeting held between Minister Owen Bonnici and the management of The Malta Independent, the paper which leaked the double identity card story, and the problem was established as being a misunderstanding.
"I have confidence in the Electoral Commission and Identity Malta," he said.