Man acquitted of providing fake marriage certificate to get residency

A man accused of fabricating marriage documents to secure residency has been acquitted of charges related to providing false information to immigration authorities. 

Moustafa Ata Moussa Darwish, 38, was accused of fabricating a marriage document with a British citizen to secure a residency permit.

But Magistrate Kevan Azzopardi ruled that the prosecution failed to provide the "best evidence" required for a conviction.

According to the prosecution, on July 6 and in the preceding months and years, the Egyptian national made false declarations and submitted false documents in breach of the Immigration Act.

The investigation began in November 2023 after Identità's compliance unit flagged several Egyptian nationals, including Darwish, who claimed to be married to British citizens. 

The police contacted the woman declared as Darwish’s spouse. She denied any relationship with the accused, stating she did not know him and had never been married to him.

The court heard the testimony of a Jobsplus representative, who said that the accused’s residence permit, issued on June 25, 2021, indicated that he was married to a UK national and was a family member of a UK national. 

She also presented a copy of the accused's employment history, a single permit, and a copy of the residence card received by Jobsplus. Darwish had been working as a full-time hairdresser since March 7, 2022.

Witnesses from Identità Malta confirmed that there was no physical file for the accused within the system.

Chief Legal Officer at Identità Agency Neil Harrison said that the compliance department had investigated the case and found he was not married to a person of British nationality. When asked if the accused had ever been called in by the agency to sign any documents or declarations, the witness said he was not personally involved in that aspect, but it did not appear to be the case.

The witness confirmed that the head of compliance suspected there might have been internal involvement.

The court considered that, in her testimony, Inspector Lara Butters said she had not encountered a single document signed by Darwish containing a false declaration, noting that physical files regarding Brexit applications were often handled via fingerprints and digital pads rather than traditional paper signatures.

Court noted that while it understood the prosecution had not presented the accused’s necessary applications with Identità Malta because they were not found in the file held by the agency, these applications do exist and must be somewhere.

The Court remarked that the prosecution had brought forward no evidence to show that these documents or applications had been destroyed in any way, which would have explained the failure to present them in the case.

Therefore, it could not conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Darwish was the person who had personally made the false statement without seeing the document he had supposedly signed.

Consequently, Darwish was cleared of all charges.

The prosecution was led by Inspector Lara Butters while lawyers Nicholas Mifsud and Tiziana Micallef appeared for the accused.