A man who is presently facing criminal proceedings against him over the cultivation of cannabis plants complained yesterday that his identity card was still being withheld by the police and without it he could not even collect registered mail from the post office or go to the bank.

Fifty-nine-year-old Albert Tanti from Msida has been charged with cultivating 56 cannabis plants and being in possession of an amount of cannabis that was found in circumstances denoting it was not for his personal use.

He has pleaded guilty to the charges and was granted bail against a personal

guarantee of Lm5,000 and placed under house arrest, except for two hours in the morning in order to run errands.

When he appeared before magistrate Jacqueline Padovani yesterday, Tanti complained that he could not do certain things, such as pick up registered mail and parcels from his relatives abroad from the post office, without his identity card. He said he was also unable to carry out transactions at the bank without the card.

Tanti’s ID card and passport are being held by the police because nowadays, even an ID card can be used as a travel document.

Magistrate Padovani told inspector Raymond Cassar to issue a provisional identity card but the inspector said this was not possible. He suggested that he give Tanti a photocopy of his ID card.

Mr Tanti also complained that the two hours a day the court permitted him to leave his house was not enough for all the errands he had to run. But magistrate Padovani told him that those were the bail conditions and he had to respect them.