A 65-year-old man has been acquitted of fraud and forgery charges linked to more than €25,600 in social security benefits after a court ruled that, although a medical certificate submitted in his name was forged, there was no evidence that he had knowingly participated in the deception.

Paul Pace, from Marsascala, was cleared of all eight charges by Magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo in a judgment delivered on Monday.

The case formed part of a wider police investigation involving former Labour MP and family doctor Silvio Grixti, after investigators discovered a medical certificate bearing the purported signature of Francis Carbonaro on Grixti's laptop.

The certificate, which was also found in Pace's file at the Social Security Department, claimed that he suffered from Neuromyelitis Optica, a condition that qualified him for severe disability assistance.

However, Carbonaro testified that he had never issued or signed the certificate and that Pace had not even been his patient when the document was supposedly drawn up in 2020.

The court established that the certificate was false but found that the prosecution had failed to prove Pace had forged it, knew of its contents or deliberately used it to obtain benefits.

According to the judgment, Pace applied for severe disability assistance in February 2020 and was subsequently approved for payments following an assessment by a medical panel.

In September 2023, he was asked to repay €25,621.37 in benefits received between February 2020 and October 2023.

During police questioning and his testimony in court, Pace explained that he had suffered serious eyesight problems for several years, undergoing more than 20 operations and eventually losing almost all his vision.

He said he had approached Grixti, who had been his family doctor for 16 years, to enquire whether he qualified for financial assistance.

According to Pace, Grixti completed the application and handed him an envelope containing the relevant documents, which he subsequently posted to the Social Security Department without opening.

His wife, Sonia Pace, corroborated his account, telling the court that Grixti had reassured the couple that he would handle the matter.

Medical testimony confirmed that Pace suffered from serious and permanent visual impairment, although his actual medical condition differed from the one stated on the forged certificate.

Carbonaro confirmed that Pace had been referred to him in April 2022 for glaucoma and diabetes-related eye complications and underwent surgery two months later.

Ophthalmologist Thomas Fenech also testified that Pace had a permanent disability and required assistance with everyday activities.

A court-appointed medical expert, Mario Scerri, similarly concluded that Pace suffered from severe visual impairment in both eyes.

The magistrate observed that these findings supported Pace's genuine need for disability assistance.

The court also noted that the prosecution had failed to produce evidence linking Pace to the creation of the forged certificate. The document had been recovered from Grixti's laptop, with no evidence showing that it had ever been found in Pace's possession or on any electronic device belonging to him.

The magistrate found no reason to doubt Pace's explanation that he had trusted his long-standing family doctor to handle the application correctly.

In its judgment, the court also criticised the medical panel's responsibility to verify the authenticity and accuracy of documents submitted in support of benefit applications.

It warned that medical boards should not simply accept information supplied by applicants without adequate checks, particularly since applicants were generally not medical professionals themselves.

The court said inadequate verification risked reducing the approval process to a mere "rubber-stamping" exercise, potentially opening the door to abuse.

Separately, the magistrate flagged an inconsistency in Pace's financial records.

Although his disability application indicated that he was unemployed, bank statements showed salary payments from G4S Security Services Ltd in 2022 and 2023.

The court questioned how Pace could have been receiving employment income while suffering from such serious visual impairment.

However, it noted that the prosecution had not pursued the matter, including whether the relevant bank accounts were held jointly with his wife. It had also not been established whether employment income would have affected his entitlement to the benefit.

The magistrate stressed that these unanswered questions could not compensate for the absence of evidence proving criminal intent.

Addressing the fraud charges, the court found that Pace had genuinely suffered from a severe disability before applying for assistance.

It also emerged that, after his benefits were suspended because of the criminal proceedings, a fresh application was submitted and payments resumed.

The court concluded that the prosecution had failed to establish that Pace intended to deceive either the Social Security Department or its medical board.

He was consequently acquitted of all eight charges, including forgery, knowingly using falsified documents, making false declarations and fraud.

The prosecution was led by Inspector Michael Tabone, while the accused was being represented by lawyer Jason Azzopardi.