Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/313770
News maltatoday, Sunday, 18 May 2014 The police are looking into the transaction that could millions of dinars in purchasing visas for Libyans to Malta, in their inves- tigation into Marisa Farrugia, the consul who is being held responsi- ble to have been in collusion with Libyan nationals in issuing visas against payment. The price tag for the visa was 1,500 dinars, roughly around €900. Libyans would ask for visas at travel agencies in Tripoli. The agencies would then reportedly arrange with Farrugia, and Far- rugia would get a cut for the sale of the visas. An average of 300 visas are is- sued every day for Libyans to trav- el to Malta. Farrugia was posted to Libya two years ago, and was entrusted with overseeing the transition of the visa application process to VFS Global – a global outsourcing and technology services specialist for diplomatic missions and gov- ernments worldwide. however, the company is not involved in the investigations which are currently underway. The police are also investigat- ing the profiles of hundreds of Libyans who arrived in Malta on a one-year visa. Speaking to MaltaToday, a Lib- yan official said that many of the people who had left Tripoli were known for their criminal links and their past links to the Gaddafi regime. The official said they were as- tounded that it had taken so long for the Maltese authorities to take action. "Farrugia had been at this game for two years. Various individuals had approached the government to describe the technique behind the issue of visas. They simply did not take them seriously." he admitted that things changed the issue was brought to the at- tention of the Office of the Prime Minister. Last week, MaltaToday revealed how Malta's consul in Tripoli, Marisa Farrugia, had been re- called to Malta for urgent police questioning, after police took ac- tion in a request by the govern- ment over documented evidence of extensive fraud in the Maltese embassy concerning the issuing of travel visas for Libyans. Farrugia arrived in Malta and was interrogated by senior police officers from the Criminal Inves- tigations Department in Floriana, where she was questioned over allegations of fraud in the issue of hundreds of Maltese visas to Libyan nationals. The investigations got underway after a number of Maltese compa- nies claimed that their business letterheads were being falsified for recommendations and the official invitations used for the issuing of a visa for Libyan businessmen. The scam appears to have been an ongoing affair, with allegations that someone in the Maltese em- bassy in Tripoli was responsible and directly involved in the crime, in conjunction with a criminal gang. The investigations have been on- going since March 2013. This is not the first time that allegations about impropriety at the Maltese embassy have been reported. In June 2013, the Foreign Affairs Ministry had issued a statement confirming that the alleged abuse in the issuing of visas by the Mal- tese Consulate in Libya had been under investigation for weeks. The Consulate normally charge €70 (120 Libyan dinars) for the processing of applications, the back-office work is outsourced to a private company. Visa scam involves millions Fast track visa opened doors to Libyan criminals and former Gaddafi officials Marisa Farrugia was allegedly working in tandem with Libyan travel agencies for two years