A lawyer and former police officer has been charged with involvement in major crime, including the theft of more than €1 million from a Balzan bank, the failed heist on HSBC headquarters and last week’s attempted robbery of a jeweller in Attard.

David Gatt, 40, of Birkirkara, pleaded not guilty to complicity in the hold-up at HSBC’s Balzan branch three years ago when armed robbers made off with almost €1.1 million.

He was also charged with complicity in the June 30 attempted robbery of the HSBC headquarters in Qormi that ended in a shootout and in Friday’s attempted hold-up of jeweller Michael Mizzi outside his Attard home.

Furthermore, he denied complicity in a failed attempt to break into a security van carrying an estimated €2.8 million in cash in Qormi on January 4, 2009.

Dr Gatt, who became a lawyer after he was dismissed from the police force nine years ago over alleged involvement with criminal activity, was also charged with complicity in holding several people against their will during the hold-ups and sheltering suspects from police.

He was accused of helping Fabio Psaila get away from police when he is currently wanted in connection with Friday’s incident in Attard as well as of sheltering Darren Debono and Vincent Muscat following their alleged involvement in the June attempted heist. Both men are facing criminal charges over the case.

It is being alleged that Dr Gatt helped Mr Debono seek medical assistance after he was shot in the jaw during the shootout with the police.

Mr Debono was also shot on Friday when he was allegedly one of three men who attacked Mr Mizzi and his son. The son managed to snatch the sawn-off shotgun carried by one of the men and shot Mr Debono in the leg.

Dr Gatt also faces a charge of hindering doctor John Zammit Montebello from carrying out his duty to inform police about suspected criminal activity.

Dr Gatt’s lawyers, Edward Gatt and Mark Vassallo, made a request for bail. They argued that, since their client could guarantee that he would turn up for future court sittings and would not tamper with evidence, “he could not be denied bail according to law”.

Former officer on hold-up charges

The prosecution objected arguing that they feared the accused could approach their two “pillar” witnesses who were Dr Zammit Montebello and Police Constable Mario Portelli.

“Just to give you an idea, he (the accused) went around comparing himself to the capo dei capi Toto Riina (a Sicilian Mafia boss),” said police inspector Joseph Mercieca who was prosecuting with police inspector Michael Mallia.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli turned down the bail request at this stage but urged the police to ensure that Dr Zammit Montebello and PC Portelli testified in the next sitting.

Dr Gatt had been in the police force for 12 years when he was dismissed in 2001 together with another two officers – Michael Buttigieg and Ivan Portelli. The dismissal followed a decision by the Public Service Commission over their alleged involvement with criminal activity. No disciplinary action was taken against them and they were not arraigned over the allegations. Instead, they were removed from the force by the PSC following procedures they did not know about.

In September an appeals court ordered their reinstatement after ruling that they had been discharged unfairly. The court based its decision on the fact that they had not been told there were procedures against them before the PSC and, therefore, could not defend themselves.

Following the court verdict, the Police Commissioner and the government insisted on their decision, stressing that there had been valid grounds for the dismissal of the officers. The Commissioner asked the PSC to reconsider the case.

A court then upheld a request by the three men and issued a warrant of prohibitory injunction to stop the Commissioner from instituting fresh proceedings against him before the PSC.

The man had argued that they had already faced such proceedings in 2001 and that the courts had declared their dismissal unfair.