A Libyan national who falsified a passport and used it ended up being handed a suspended sentence this morning.

Police Inspector Frankie Sammut arraigned 39 year old Libyan Ahmed Al Ragoub Alkilani Abubaker before Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona, charging him with making a false declaration to a public authority and being in possession of a falsified travel document.

Abubaker, who lives in Tunis, was arrested at the airport yesterday.

Defence lawyer Arthur Azzopardi asked the court to keep in mind the situation in the country he had come from, as he entered a guilty plea on behalf of the accused. The accused had come to register a company in Malta but had used false documentation, said the lawyer, adding that his CV, which was written by a third party, states that he speaks good English, when in fact the accused does not speak a word of English.

“My client is registering an admission as, while there are humanitarian reasons for doing this, he client understands that he broke the law. He cannot say that he didn’t know the law and cannot say that he was tricked. Had there been another way, I am sure he would have taken it,” the lawyer continued.

The accused was handed a six-month sentence, suspended for a year.