(Add ministry's statement)

The Nationalist Party has called on the governemnt to immediately publish a report by a Board of Inquiry into a decision by former police chief Peter Paul Zammit to drop charges against a man who allegedly assaulted four officers.

The inquiry was concluded in July, but Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia has not yet found the time to go through the findings.

Jason Azzopardi, shadow minister for home affairs, said the report needed to be published in the interests of transparency.

Publication of the report had been promised by the minister himself, Dr Azzopardi said at a press conference this morning. He questioned if the the former commissioner's resignation was linked to this report or whether had been given a new post as a reward.

The minister, when contacted yesterday, said he was abroad and had not been in a position to analyse its conclusions.

The incident at the centre of the inquiry occurred at the Żabbar police station in June last year when a man from Marsaxlokk allegedly assaulted a police sergeant and three constables before he was arrested. The sergeant had issued charges, including for breaching the public peace, disobeying police officers, assaulting them and resisting arrest. The charges were reportedly put on hold in August and withdrawn last December.

A controversy ensued after it was reported that Mr Zammit had instructed the police to drop all charges against the person allegedly involved in the assault.

In the wake of calls by Opposition spokesman Jason Azzopardi for a probe, the Home Affairs Ministry last June appointed a board of inquiry, headed by Judge Franco Depasquale.

At the time the inquiry was announced a ministry spokeswoman had promised the findings would be published. However, Dr Mallia has now told this newspaper that a decision on whether to publish or not would only be taken once the report was evaluated.

Mr Zammit admitted that the decision to drop charges was his but did not elaborate about the case.

Shortly afterwards, Mr Zammit had stepped down to assume an administrative role as coordinator for security in national events. The government said the decision had been taken by mutual agreement.

Mr Zammit’s stint at the helm of the police force was one of the shortest ever as he had only been appointed commissioner a year earlier following the change in government.

In a statement this afternoon, the Home Affairs Ministry said that when the inquiry was announced, Dr Azzopardi had described it as "a prelude to a cover up" and said he had no confidence in the appointed board.

Now that the inquiry had said that the former Commissioner's decision was a subjective one, with which one could or could not agree, Dr Azzopardi insisted that this argument did not make sense.