Updated 5pm with Identità statement
A man and a woman were on Thursday charged with money laundering, human trafficking and document forgery involving stolen identities from the government's identity agency Identità.
Former Identità employee Maria Rita Spiteri, 32, and car dealer Bernard Attard, 33, were arraigned separately and charged with money laundering, forgery, fraud and bribery that took place between October 21, 2019, and March 22, 2023.
Both pleaded not guilty.
The court heard from inspector Christian Abdilla how at the end of 2023 the police began investigating third-country nationals who obtained fraudulent residence documents that eventually led to the arrest of five individuals.
All those arrested told the police that Attard and Spiteri played a role in obtaining false documents, with Attard also being responsible for collecting their money.
The accused were arrested on July 18, 2024, and let out on bail.
The prosecution contested granting bail, citing concerns that the defendants may attempt to tamper with evidence, as the third-country nationals were yet to testify in the case.
The court did not grant them bail and ordered the freezing of their assets.
Separate to this case, there is an ongoing magisterial inquiry that was called by former PN MP Jason Azzopardi and began in August 2024, to investigate an alleged scam which involves the agency issuing forged documents.
Azzopardi had claimed that Spiteri and Attard were involved in the racket.
Azzopardi filed the application on July 31 and publicly claimed that some 18,000 ID cards were issued.
Inspectors Andy Rotin, Keith Darmanin, Lara Butters, Christian Abela, with the help of AG lawyers Manuel Grech and Andrea Zammit prosecuted.
Lawyers Alfred Abela and Rene Darmanin acted as the defence for Spiteri.
Lawyers Jose Herrera and Matthew Xuereb acted as the defence for Attard.
Magistrate Joseph Gatt presided over the case.
'Evidence in court confirms allegations unfounded' - Identità
Reacting to Thursday's arraignment, Identità said the evidence presented in court confirmed that claims about the agency were unfounded.
Such claims, it said, were only meant to tarnish the integrity of the agency's processes and employees.
It welcomes the legal action against Spiteri and Attard, which it said followed an internal investigation by Identità's compliance and expatriates units.
This investigation, it said, kicked off in September 2022 and focused on the irregular processing of residence permits for five Egyptian nationals "and not thousands of people" as alleged.
Identità said back then it had immediately rejected the allegations and pointed at how it was its own investigation that led to the arrests and arraignment in court.