Identita, the government agency responsible for the issuing of ID cards, should publish its internal inquiry that it said had been conducted as it responded to the ongoing allegations of falsified documents and the distribution of 18,000 false ID cards, the Nationalist Party said on Tuesday.
PN MPs Darren Carabott and Claudette Buttigieg said that the PN is requesting that this internal inquiry is published as quickly as possible. The MPs added that the PN is requesting for there to be a way for property owners and residents to be able to see if there are other people who have been registered on their property. “There are people who are receiving letters, and so people should have the opportunity to be reassured,” Carabott said. He added that people who are receiving such correspondence or letters should contact the MP of their district.
Carabott said that this is a case where the politician responsible for Identita has failed to take action, and where shortcomings have been occurring for months. He continued that this is not something which has only just happened, as the courts heard that an individual had been contacted two years ago regarding a marriage certificate which indicated that she was married to a third-country national whom she had never met.
“We have received a number of reports, and facts, about people receiving correspondence in their homes in the names of people they do not know yet are registered on their address,” the MP said. He spoke of people receiving details of hospital appointments, central bank cheques, or correspondence from the Department of Social Security which were addressed to other people who they did not know.
He questioned where Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa and Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri have been in this situation. “What steps have they taken? Why have they been silent?”
Carabott remarked that there are people in Identita who have nothing to do with this and that the PN is not attacking the agency. He said that there are responsible individuals who fell short.
“Byron Camilleri should resign. His position is no longer tenable,” Carabott commented.
Buttigieg remarked that the country is going through waves of stories, “one after the other”, which show something “very worrying, a truly ugly picture of a country filled with corruption, filled with fraud”. She said that this is the legacy of Joseph Muscat and Robert Abela’s governments. “This is what they are leaving behind them.”
She said that the absolute majority of civil workers are people of respect and dignity who know how to do their work and do it well. She continued that if they know any information about what is going on, then they should not be afraid to come out and speak.
Buttigieg said that the country cannot keep going on like this, and referred to other matters such as the hospitals’ situation and the energy distribution system. She said that this trend has continued, “and it does not seem that it is going to end”. She commented that it needs to be good people who decide to end this wave.
She thanked Jason Azzopardi, who today said he had received a decree from the Duty Magistrate detailing how his request for a magisterial inquiry into Identita would be upheld. Buttigieg said that Azzopardi has “taken a lot of the weight of this situation upon his shoulders”.
The MP concluded by again appealing for civil workers to come forward and speak about the situation. “The PN is here to protect you as well… Do not allow those who are dirty to besmirch you as well.”
Buttigieg questioned where Minister Camilleri is, and remarked that if someone has seen him, then they should contact the PN and inform them as “no one seems to know where he is”. She added that this is another situation concerning his ministry, “and he has disappeared”.