Updated 6.59pm with PL statement below.
Identity Malta on Wednesday denied claims of a criminal conspiracy that allegedly saw the identity cards of foreign-born Maltese citizens given to foreign residents in order to vote for the Labour Party.
In a brief statement, the agency denied that the Public Registry had failed to process death notifications and explained that as death notifications are processed, the identity cards of the deceased are collected.
The agency also denied claims that it had revoked the residence permit of the man who made the claims and who had earlier made claims against Transport Malta over an alleged driving licence scam.
"The temporary residence permit was not renewed by the holder himself," Identity Malta said.
Electoral Commission: No involvement in issuance of ID cards
The Electoral Commission also commented about the case on Wednesday afternoon, saying that it has no role in the issuance of ID cards and it was ready to cooperate in investigations should it be required.
In a court application on Tuesday, a man claimed he also holds evidence of widespread voter fraud dating all the way back to 2014.
He claimed that “thousands of euros” were paid to foreigners living in Malta who were provided with names, surnames and ID cards of a deceased person in order to vote for the Labour Party.
The whistleblower, who was involved in the Labour Party and served as the secretary of the Balzan Labour Party Club, also claimed to have a list of names of the people involved and he knew people who participated in the scheme personally.
The whistleblower claimed that he was forced out of Malta in 2021 when his residence permit was revoked, months after he tried to raise the alarm within the Labour Party of the driving licence racket.
Information that he provided to the police in November 2020 sparked an investigation into the driving licence system and eventually led to the arraignment of the three suspects.
The Nationalist Party has demanded an investigation into the claims made in the court application, while the Labour Party has dismissed the claims as fantasy.
While the Electoral Commission used to issue ID cards up until 2014, the system was then replaced by the National Identity Management System and fell under the responsibility of Identity Malta.
At the time, the Opposition had expressed concern about the decision.
It is understood that the Electoral Commission now relies on data supplied by Identity Malta in order to verify the issuance of voting documents.
Times of Malta has asked both the Police and Identity Malta whether they intend to investigate the claims.
The whistleblower has expressed the desire to testify via video conferencing in the driving licence racket case opened on the strength of the information he provided to police.
PN: Electoral Commission's statement proves the PL wrong
In a reaction, the Nationalist Party said the Electoral Commission's statement proved that the Labour Party was wrong on Tuesday when it claimed that the commission and the representatives of the political parties had total scrutiny over the ID cards process.
It said it was reiterating that the commission should have access to the process and that the allegations made by the whistleblower should be investigated.
The party pointed out that the allegations had been made by a person who had been at the heart of the Labour Party.
If the PL had nothing to hide it should join it in demanding an investigation rather than turn the issue into a partisan one, the PN said.
Replying, the Labour Party said the PN had a history of trying to build its policies on baseless allegations. It said the PN needed to understand why it lost the last general election and the previous one by landslides. The reason was that the PL offered the best solutions for the country while the PN did not change other than for going backwards.
The PN establishment, it said, had a problem accepting the legitimate electoral verdict. It had been trying to sell invented stories about the elections for years but no one believed them, and no one would now.