The police corps was being led in a way that ensured it protected the government rather than the people, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said this evening.
Addressing a PN event in Pieta, Dr Busuttil said a Nationalist government would restore the people’s faith in the police.
He said the PN had proposed that Police Commissioner be appointed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament, thus ensuring bi-party consensus.
Dr Busuttil accused Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of attempting to brush alleged political interference in a drug trafficking case in Gozo under the carpet.
Instead of helping drug victims, Dr Muscat was helping those who trafficked drugs, Dr Busuttil said.
He said Dr Muscat had appointed three judges to look into the Beppe Fenech Adami Capital One case, yet an ex-PL candidate had been tasked with leading the inquiry into the Gozo case.
“Instead of ensuring that the police took action, politicians intervened to ensure that no action would be taken”, Dr Busuttil said.
Dr Busuttil questioned why Dr Muscat had yet to declare that none of his ministers were involved in this case.
Was it possible that the Prime Minister had not summoned his whole Cabinet to see who was involved, Dr Busuttil asked.
He said the police force had seen five different Commissioner in the space of four years.
Dr Busuttil questioned if the government had all this time been searching for a Commissioner who was willing to act as its puppet.
He once again reiterated his promise that a PN government would investigate all deals that Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri were involved in.
The Opposition leader questioned where the one million in annual deposits earmarked for the two men’s Panama setup were going to come from.
On the London attack, Dr Busuttil said such incidents highlighted the importance of countries cooperating with each other to combat terrorism.
He said people no longer felt safe in Malta, and no headway had been made by the police in their investigations into the recent spate of car bombings.
Dr Busuttil said the time had come for a political party to give the necessary importance to the security of Maltese and Gozitan people.
Busuttil's comment shameful - PL
In a statement, the Labour Party said that Dr Busuttil’s comment that the Prime Minister defended traffickers was shameful.
The PL said that Dr Busuttil’s falsity was coming more into the open as he was ready to consider anonymous letters on others but was not willing to take action against Dr Fenech Adami. Moreover, he attacked and ignored an inquiry and an investigation.
It also said that Dr Busuttil had not yet published the invoices he ordered to cover the fact that a businessman was paying wages of personnel within his party.