An Egyptian forged a stamp on his passport, with the help of an immigration officer and another two men, because he needed to leave Malta to undergo surgery in his home country, a court heard yesterday.

Their lawyers argued that they had acted on ‘humanitarian grounds’ to help a man who needed to be operated upon

Ahmed Abougomaa told the court he had been involved in a traffic accident in Malta a few days before he was meant to leave the island temporarily in line with his Visa requirements.

According to his 45-day Visa, he was meant to leave the island but, due to the accident, he could not depart within the set timeframe.

As a result of the accident, he also suffered hernia and needed to go home to Egypt for surgery. But he was scared that he would be stopped at the airport for not abiding by Visa regulations and so asked an Egyptian man for help.

Mr Abougomaa and three men who helped him were yesterday charged with involvement in forging the stamp on his passport.

Mr Abougomaa, 28, was given an 18-month jail term suspended for a year after he admitted to tampering with his passport when he handed it over to the Egyptian friend to get it stamped.

The other three men were charged in a separate case. They were Raymond Portelli, 53, from Mtarfa, immigration officer Clyde Joe Cassar, 48, from Birkirkara and Egyptian Sherif Said Mohamed El Sherif, 32, who lives in St Julian’s.

They were charged with conspiring to commit a crime and forging the stamp on Mr Abougomaa’s passport.

Mr Cassar was also charged with committing a crime when he was a public officer.

Mr Portelli and Mr Cassar admitted to the charges. Their lawyers argued that they had acted on “humanitarian grounds” to help a man who needed to be operated upon. They did not do it for money, the defence team insisted.

Magistrate Gabrielle Vella noted that the two men had cooperated with the police but the court could not ignore the serious nature of the crime, irrespective of their motivation.

Mr Portelli was given an 18-month jail term suspended for two years, while Mr Cassar was given a two-year jail term suspended for four years.

The court also ordered his general, perpetual interdiction, which means that he cannot hold public office.

Mr El Sherif pleaded not guilty to the charges and his case was put off to today when the magistrate will hear the main witnesses.

He was denied bail.

Police Inspectors Victor Aquilina and Jeanne Farrugia conducted the prosecution.

Lawyers Renzo Porsella Flores, Chris Cardona, Edward Zammit Lewis, Peter Fenech and Larry Gauci represented the four men.