Man lends friend passport to travel abroad

A man who gave his passport to his friend to help him travel abroad, has landed in trouble over the act.

A 29 year-old Nigerian man, Samuel Akighbe, has admitted in court to lending his passport to a co-national so he could travel to Italy.

According to Malta Today, Akighbe, who resides in Italy, pleaded guilty to the charge of transferring his Italian Alien passport to his friend Chukwuka Samuel Okon, before magistrate Francesco Depasquale this morning.

Okon, 39 had been arrested at the airport on Monday, as he attempted to use Akighbe’s passport to travel to Italy.

The court had been told that Okon was working in Malta illegally and had been travelling back and forth between Malta and Italy since 2013. He had been handed a suspended sentence for his crime.

On Friday, lawyer Dr. Mark Mifsud Cutajar, for the defence, pointed out that this case differed from the majority of passport offences in that it involved valid documentation and was not tied to any financial motive.

The lawyer explained that the accused had given the documents to Okon, “purely to help out his friend.”

In view of his admission, Magistrate Francesco Depasquale found the accused guilty and handed him a 1 year prison sentence suspended for 3 years, explaining the implications of this to the accused.

Prosecuting inspector Darren Buhagiar informed the court that Akighbe is to be returned to Italy shortly.