Justice Minister Owen Bonnici today againdenied allegations that Identity Malta had issued multiple ID cards to individuals, which would allow them to vote more than once.

Last month, reports emerged of an “internal crisis” at Identity Malta after a “sample” of 300 people found that over 80 held multiple ID cards.

Dr Bonnici explained that this sample was in fact an exhaustive list of the 286 people who had been granted temporary ID cards over the years. Provisional ID cards are issued to people unable to provide a birth certificate.

The list in question shows a number of people with multiple ID cards under their names.

The Justice Minister said the list quoted in the media reports showed a historical progression of the ID cards issued to these people.

He said the majority of those with multiple ID cards under their name had exchanged their provisional ID card for a full one.

Dr Bonnici said when the ID cards were exchanged, the old provisional ID card was handed over to Identity Malta.

He said that there were three cases where people were issues with multiple ID cards, which would technically allow them to vote twice.

Two of the cases were put down to clerical errors. The other case was due to a Serbian national who was registered with the authorities under a Yugoslavian passport.

The Serb then registered with the authorities a second time using a different name under a Serbian passport.