The Ministry of Internal Affairs said that the Opposition knows that publishing the Internal inquiry regarding the Identità scandal would prejudice the case under investigation and that taking to the media without establishing facts was imprudent.
The ministry was reacting to a statement made by a statement made by the Opposition, where the latter is asking for Identità to publish its internal investigation into a scandal concerning false residence and identity cards allegedly issued to third country nationals.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said that justice doesn't happen through media reports but by the taking of necessary actions when faced with allegations of the law being broken and that this is done by filing a report with the police. The ministry said that Identità not only did this but, as it previously said, takes any allegation, doubt or report that is brought to its attention seriously.
The ministry said that with the strengthened structures of diligence and conformity, the Agency has all the tools to do this with utmost transparency and efficiency, and also said that it is in a better position to be able to fully cooperate in any investigation for justice to be served. The ministry said that the Agency, following an internal investigation by the Compliance Sector and Expatriates Unit, passed on the information, including all found proof regarding certain individuals to the police for them to continue the investigations and take any necessary action in accordance to the law.
The ministry said that what is being requested, as the Opposition knows, may "prejudice the case with possible hindrance towards the correct administration of justice." It added that the Opposition also knows that it would have been more prudent had it established facts before, "once again choosing to be populist." It said that it was the Agency that offered the necessary assistance to property owners, who received letters addressed to persons not registered in their residence, on the 7th of August.
The ministry said that in a statement, Identità said that there were various reasons these cases happened, amongst which, are tenants who hadn't informed the Agency that they had changed their place of residence, cases where the De-registration Form would not have been submitted by the owner of the property, cases where the individual would not have informed private companies and suppliers of services with a change in address or through a deceitful usage of the address without legal authorisation. It said that in this case, owners should make a report at the nearest police station.
The ministry reiterated Identità's appeal for companies and local service providers to verify the address of their clients with the identity document or official Maltese residence. It said that this is the duty of every company or service provider prior to registering these details in their system.
The ministry also reminded that it is the responsibility of every permit holder or residence document to inform all the local service providers with any change in their address when asking for a service. It concluded that Identità is not and cannot be held responsible when given wrong or fraudulent information from companies, entities or local service providers.