The Police Force commemorates its Foundation Day this week. There will be band playing, speeches and events, but not much cause for celebration. The revelations about some of the top brass in the force have strengthened people’s suspicions that there are foxes guarding the hen coop and that the long arm of the law is not so much seeking to bring people to justice, as cosily wrapped around those people who it should be investigating.
The members of the police mired in the current controversy are former acting police commissioner Ray Zammit and his son, former inspector Daniel Zammit. The latter – though appearing to be a strapping, iron-pumping 36-year-old – has been boarded out of the force with lightning speed on undisclosed medical grounds. He is now the recipient of a police pension of some €800 a month.
Within days of his being boarded out, he landed another similar job with Enemalta Corporation (one which was subsequently terminated by Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi). Daniel Zammit’s luck had not yet run out. Some days after the Enemalta job went up in smoke, he was employed by Mark Gaffarena (in the news for making a killing off the State for land which he had bought for peanuts).
You may think there is nothing untoward in a former police officer finding employment in the private sector after a stint working in the public service. And that would be true in the normal course of events. However, we begin to view things in a different light when we consider the fact that Daniel Zammit was a prosecutor assigned to investigate the 2008 murder of Neville Baldacchino, who was allegedly shot dead by Stephen Caruana – the husband of Romina Gaffarena, sister of Mark Gaffarena and Joseph Gaffarena’s daughter.
For reasons that were not at all clear, the investigations proceeded at a snail’s pace. They have not been concluded yet and the house where the murder was committed has been demolished, effectively destroying the scene of the crime.
Stranger still – the prosecution requested that the compilation of evidence takes place behind closed doors. This request was acceded to by the court. As a result, nobody knows what on earth happened in that judicial black hole.
While in charge of that murder investigation, Daniel Zammit was a co-shareholder in a company with the murder suspect’s father-in-law Joseph Gaffarena. So is his father, former acting police commissioner Ray Zammit and his brother, Inspector Ray Zammit.
We have veered from the realm of incompetence to the realm of illegality. I cannot stress enough how worrying this is
But Daniel Zammit is a busy bunny. He is also one of the main shareholders in a company which operates a gentleman’s club which boasts of having “ladies known not only for their beauty, but also for their charm”.
Now, the involvements listed above may have kept the former inspector occupied but where does it leave the members of the public? The ones who have no business relationship with him?
The man in the street is always going to be wondering whether Zammit has carried out his police work impartially or whether he has in any way favoured his company associates. Because this is a textbook case of perceived conflict of interest – where it can be perceived, or it appears, that a public official’s private interests could improperly influence the performance of his duties.
Citizens are quite right to be sceptical as to whether the police are dragging their feet or being completely inactive when it comes to investigating their business associates. The dismissal of complaints, the inattention to reports of illegal activity, the unsuccessful notifications, the botched prosecutions – all take on a more sinister aspect if done intentionally. We have veered from the realm of incompetence to the realm of illegality. I cannot stress enough how worrying this is.
The Police Force has had its fair share of problems in the past with two commissioners having had to resign in awful circumstances. There are reports of police brutality and racism. Add to this, the element of conflict of interest and you have a force which is part of the problem of the general state of lawlessness that is engulfing the country, rather than a law enforcement agency. Time for a root and branch reform of the Police Corps before the situation gets even worse.
cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt