A former police sergeant has been awarded over €185,000 in compensation after a court found that he had been dismissed from the police force in an irregular manner.
Michael Buttigieg requested the court to review the administrative actions which had given rise to his dismissal and to declare that the letter in terms of which he had been dismissed was null and void. He also asked the court to award him damages.
He filed his application in the First Hall of the Civil Court, presided over by Justice Joseph R Micallef, against the Police Commissioner, the Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office and the Prime Minister.
The court heard that Mr Buttigieg had joined the police force at the rank of constable in 1993 and that in 1999 he had been made a sergeant after an internal examination. In the following year he had been chosen to attend a course at the police academy to become an inspector.
However, in January 2001, while he was still a police sergeant, Mr Buttigieg was sent for by the then Assistant Police Commissioner John Rizzo and accused of complicity in a criminal case involving a bank robbery.
The court heard that the Public Service Commission had recommended that Mr Buttigieg be dismissed from the police force, but at no time had it sent for him or heard his testimony.
After his dismissal, Mr Buttigieg had filed a court case against the authorities and in September, 2010, the Court of Appeal had found in his favour and ruled that the decision of the PSC was null and void as the proceedings against him had been in violation of the principles of natural justice.
Following this judgment, the Police Commissioner had written to the Permanent Secretary within the Prime Minister's Office, asking him to start the proceedings before the PSC to dismiss Mr Buttigieg.
Mr Buttigieg had obtained a warrant of prohibitory injunction against respondents and filed his court case requesting payment of all the sums due to him with effect from May 2001 by way of salary, bonuses and other benefits.
In yesterday's judgment, Mr Justice Micallef said the judgment of the Court of Appeal of September 2010 had clearly found that the proceedings taken by the PSC against Mr Buttigieg were null and void. Thus the recommendations for his dismissal were also null and void.
The court concluded that the Court of Appeal judgment meant Mr Buttigieg was to be reinstated in the same position he had been in 2001 and that he was entitled to receive the salary, bonuses and benefits due to him to date. The court ordered the Police Commissioner and the Permanent Secretary to pay him his dues while declaring that the Prime Minister ought not to have been a party to the suit.