NAO accepts to investigate issuance of fake ID cards following PN request

The National Audit Office has accepted a request to investigate the allegations of abuse in the issuing of residence permits and identity cards to foreign nationals, the PN said on Tuesday.

The request was made by Opposition members Darren Carabott, Graham Benicini, and Claudette Buttigieg in August 2024. At the time, all three PN MPs sat on the Public Accounts Committee. 

The probe came after Identità was at the centre of a controversy after lawyer and former PN MP Jason Azzopardi claimed the agency had been issuing ID cards based on forged documents. Azzopardi said that some 18,000 ID cards were issued fraudulently, and a magisterial inquiry had been opened to investigate the claims. 

In a press release on Tuesday, the party said the chairperson of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, Darren Carabott, received confirmation from the Auditor General that the request had been accepted.

This means that the National Audit Office (NAO) has now officially opened an investigation into this scandal involving the Identità agency, Jobsplus, and the Ministry for Home Affairs and Security.

The PN issued the request asking for the NAO to determine whether Identità used the diligence expected of it and observed the principles of good governance when it processes requests for the issuance of an ID card or a residence permit to people who are not Maltese citizens.

It also asked that investigations determine whether studies were carried out to determine the national benefits resulting from the issuance of work and residence permits, and if the agencies and the ministry acted fairly with due diligence in line with the principles of good governance.

"The Nationalist Party welcomes the Auditor General's decision to investigate this process and eagerly awaits the full truth to emerge in this scandal involving the fraudulent issuing of identity cards and residence permits," the PN said.