Dozens of people are registered as living in two apartments next to an office block being used as an address by 50 more, the Nationalist Party said on Friday. 

"It is impossible for all these people to be registered as residents at a single property," home affairs shadow minister Darren Carabott said in a statement. 

Carabott released the information after Times of Malta reported that around 50 individuals were falsely declared on government databases as residing in a building owned by Gozitan developer Mark Agius on Triq Qasam San Ġorġ, Victoria. 

That building turned out to be used as an office, a site visit showed. 

On Friday, Carabott said that 49 other people are registered as residents at the building next door to Agius’ office block.   

He said that 33 third-country nationals are registered to live in Flat 1, Agius Court, Triq Qasam San Ġorġ, Victoria, while 16 were listed in Flat 3 of the block. 

Times of Malta confirmed Carabott’s claims through sources with access to a government database. 

Almost 50 people registered in two Xagħra properties

The revelations continue to add pressure on authorities to clamp down on housing and identity abuse, following allegations of a massive ID card racket.

On Wednesday, Times of Malta visited four Gozitan addresses where dozens of third-country nationals are registered as residents. These included Agius Buildings in Victoria and two locations in Xagħra.   

Three of the locations turned out to be offices. The other was a block of flats, but a resident of the block said that only locals and Maltese lived there. 

Carabott also said that the two Xagħra locations - an apartment on Triq il-Gajdoru and a holiday home known as Janique House were supposedly housing 20 and 25 residents each respectively. 

In his statement, Carabott directly linked the findings to a wider scandal involving Identita’. 

Over the past few weeks, Malta’s identity agency has been engulfed in allegations of fraud, with lawyer Jason Azzopardi claiming that thousands of people have been granted ID cards on the basis of false documents. 

 Carabott noted that the PN has asked the auditor general to investigate Identita’ and that the courts are also probing the agency.

 The PN is gathering information and evidence from the public regarding the alleged scandal, which will be passed on to the inquiry, Carabott added.