A 90-year-old man who was run over in June by the head of the intelligence agency died of natural causes on Saturday night.

Police action was taken immediately

The Office of the Prime Minister made the surprise announcement late on Saturday that Godfrey Scicluna, head of the Security Service, had suspended himself pending the outcome of proceedings “connected to allegations of involvement in an involuntary traffic accident”.

When contacted by The Times, Mr Scicluna, 63, said: “I’m sorry; I do not speak to the media.”

The Times is informed that Mr Scicluna is expected to face charges of involuntary grievous bodily harm over the incident, which happened on June 2, 2011.

Sources said he was parking his car close to home, in Paola, when he hit the old man, who lived nearby. Mr Scicluna only realised he had hit the man after he exited the vehicle, sources said.

The man was taken to Mater Dei Hospital where he was certified to be suffering from grievous injuries.

The Sunday newspaper MaltaToday, which claimed to have instigated the investigation with questions sent to the police, reported Police Commissioner John Rizzo saying he was not aware of the incident before he received the questions from the newspaper.

Answering a series of questions by The Times, the police yesterday confirmed that the man had died, adding that “from information obtained, his death is unrelated to the traffic accident of June 2012”.

The police press office said that a report on the accident had been filed immediately by the police sergeant on duty.

“Police action was taken immediately and, after the hospital authorities informed the police some days later that the elderly man suffered grievous injuries, criminal charges against Mr Scicluna were drawn up”.

However, in their replies, the police failed to explain why action was only being taken now when the incident happened last June.

The Times also asked the Office of the Prime Minister why Mr Scicluna had merely suspended himself rather than resigned, seeing as he is expected to face criminal charges. However, no response was forthcoming at the time of writing.

It is understood that Cabinet could discuss the matter this morning and even decide on a substitute for Mr Scicluna.

The service, which is distinct from the police corps and covered by its own legislation, acts as Malta’s intelligence agency and deals mostly with cases of organised crime and counter-terrorism.

It is legally empowered to carry out phone-tapping, under a warrant from the Home Affairs Minister, and, through this work, has been behind some of the most high profile investigations in the country, which secured charges against ex-Chief Justice Noel Arrigo and former judges Patrick Vella and Ray Pace.

The development comes after the name of the Security Service cropped up in the unfolding controversy over the Enemalta oil procurement scandal.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech revealed last week that his ministry had been tipped off by the service in August 2011 that there was rampant tax fraud taking place at the company belonging to George Farrugia, the rogue oil dealer at the centre of the scandal.

mmicallef@timesofmalta.com