Updated 8.35pm - The shadow minister for justice, Jason Azzopardi, said this evening that Peter Paul Zammit’s position as head of security coordination for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was untenable after a Police Board inquiry found he committed abuse of power while serving as Police Commissioner.

Speaking in Parliament, Dr Azzopardi said it was unheard of that a person in such high office was able to keep his pay as commissioner and was given a new position as head of CHOGM security.

Any ordinary worker would rightly have had the book thrown at him had he abused of his powers, he said. The authorities would have come down on him like a ton of bricks.

But why not on Mr Zammit? Was it because he knew something, maybe about the John Dalli case?

This, he said, was what happened when people were not appointed on the basis of merit.

And it was worth recalling, Dr Azzopardi said, that it was Prime Minister Joseph Muscat personally who had chosen Mr Zammit to replace no-nonsense commissioner John Rizzo.

The inquiry board found yesterday that Mr Zammit, when police commissioner, had personally dropped police action against a man who had caused a disturbance at Zabbar police station. The man had been a former client of Mr Zammit when he was in private legal practice.

PRIME MINISTER SAYS HE WILL NOT ASK ZAMMIT TO STEP DOWN

Earlier today, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told Times of Malta that he will not ask Mr Zammit to step down despite the conclusions of an inquiry report.

Dr Muscat said that Mr Zammit had shouldered responsibility when he stepped down by mutual agreement from his position as police commissioner last year. 

The report was laid on the table of the House yesterday despite having been concluded last year. 

Asked about the matter while in Qatar, Dr Muscat insisted the roles of police commissioner and security coordinator could not be compared. “I would understand your question if he was still police commissioner, but the fact he is no longer in the post, I think he’s shouldered the responsibility.”

Asked whether he had confidence in the man, the Prime Minister said Mr Zammit was doing a good job. “If he’s doing a good job in his new role, I imagine yes. I won’t have faith in the person if he’s not doing a good job.”

Dr Muscat said that when the government had to take a decision in Mr Zammit’s regard it took it. “He was removed by mutual consent. I'm able to take decisions in his regard.”

ZAMMIT DEFENDS HIS POSITION

Meanwhile, contacted by Times of Malta, Mr Zammit defended his decision at the time to withdraw the charges against the man.

“I was legally obliged to take such a decision because the original report filed by the police officers in the police computer system never mentioned aggression against the police. The charge sheet that would have been presented to court said something completely different.”

Mr Zammit said it would have been unfair to accuse a man of something he never did, insisting that case law also showed that telling a police officer he would be reported to his superiors could not be perceived as a threat.

The inquiry found that Mr Zammit never gave an explanation for his decision.

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