A former high-ranking official under the Gaddafi regime has been acquitted of forgery after evidence clearly showed that he had been unaware that his Guatemalan travel documents were counterfeit.
Mohammed Ali Hassan Fakrun, 52, from Benghazi, former undersecretary for economic affairs, working “directly under the Prime Minister himself”, had been about to travel out of Malta on a flight to Istanbul on May 23, 2018, when his passport and ID Card, bearing a Guatemalan stamp, attracted the suspicion of the police.
The passenger was arrested and arraigned two days later on charges of forgery and use of a counterfeit passport and ID card, being granted bail after denying the charges pressed against him.
During police interrogation and later when testifying in court, Mr Fakrun denied any knowledge that the personal documents found in his possession had been fake, pleading his innocence and insisting with the police to contact the Guatemalan Embassy in Rome to confirm their authenticity.
The local police authorities did contact the Embassy in Rome as well as Interpol in Guatemala, receiving confirmation that, in fact, the documents were counterfeit, with the ID card number belonging to a third party.
However, the accused insisted that he had obtained his documents through the help of a “special envoy to the United Nations Institutions” who had travelled to Istanbul where he met the accused who had set up his commercial activity there.
After the political turmoil that broke out in Libya in 2011, Mr Fakrun had fled the country, seeking refuge in Jordan and subsequently traveling to Malta from where he moved to Turkey, in the hope of finding better work opportunities there.
After setting up business in Turkey, exporting food and medicines to Libya and Jordan, the man had decided to apply for a second nationality, adding a layer of protection for himself and his family.
That was when his friend, in a “high position”, stepped in, having the documents delivered by a special Guatemalan envoy in Turkey, free of charge.
Upon the evidence put forward, the court, presided over by magistrate Audrey Demicoli, concluded that although the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the documents were false, yet the criminal intent had not been proven.
“The Court deems that the accused has given a satisfactory explanation of how the documents came into his possession and that he had no knowledge that the documents were not authentic and no reason whatsoever to suspect that they could not have been authentic.”
Moreover, the Court observed that the prosecuting officer had remarked that the said documents “were very good counterfeits”, so much so that even he had his doubts as to their authenticity and for that reason had agreed to contact the authorities in Guatemala.
Lawyer Giannella De Marco was defence counsel.