The Police Board’s inquiry over a wrongful charge was conducted by a new set of board members who, apart from the chairman, were formally appointed a week after the minister requested the inquiry.

Asked about this, a spokesman for the Home Affairs Ministry explained that the board was nominated before the minister’s request but admitted that “the formality of publishing the nomination in the Government Gazette was done in August”.

The spokesman said the new board was nominated immediately after the change in government “and definitely not following the minister’s request for an inquiry”.

The minister’s request was made on August 9 while the new Police Board was announced in the Government Gazette on August 16.

Times of Malta has established that the former board members, which apart from Judge Franco Depasquale had all served for 10 years, were not informed they had been replaced.

One of them, who preferred not to be named, told Times of Malta that soon after the election, the permanent secretary of the Home Affairs Ministry asked them to offer their resignation. While obliging, they were asked to carry on in their role until they were advised otherwise.

“Although we were not obliged to resign, as we were appointed by the President until 2014, we still sent in our offer as suggested by the ministry. However, we were told verbally to continue with our work until the ministry informs us otherwise.

“I was very surprised when in mid-August I learnt from the newspapers that another inquiry had been ordered and we were not involved. It was only through this incident that I learned we had been replaced,” the member said.

I was very surprised when I learnt that another inquiry had been ordered

“The minister could have informed us after 10 years of service, in which we have carried out many reviews without much publicity,” the member said.

Past members Gemma Sirol, Paul Agius and Paul Saliba were replaced by Deandra Schembri, the wife of Labour MP Silvio Schembri, David Farrugia Sacco, a Labour election candidate, and Victor Gruppetta, president of the Rent a Car Association whose legal representative used to be Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia.

Keith Chetcuti, the general manager of Nexos Lighting and Vision – formally owned by the ministry’s chief of staff Silvio Scerri – has been appointed a member and secretary of the Police Board.

When it was suggested that the new members were either too close to the Labour Party or members of the Ministry’s secretariat, the ministry’s spokesman said all the members nominated “have no conflict of interest and come from different political and professional backgrounds”.

The ministry declined to say whether the Rent a Car Association is still legally represented by Emanuel Mallia and Associates.

Following the publication of the inquiry’s conclusions last week, the Opposition cried foul over its conclusions stating that the board had condemned a man (Inspector Elton Taliana) who solved a crime. The Opposition said it had no faith in the new members of the Police Board.

On the other hand, Dr Mallia lambasted the Opposition, accusing its spokesman, Jason Azzopardi, of having carried out a campaign to try to prejudice the case.

How they got the right man in the end

Sunday, August 4, 9.05pm

The police were informed of a hold-up at The Convenience Shop, a grocery store in Mgr Alfred Mifsud Street, Birkirkara. Employees reported that a man wearing a greenish balaclava and brandishing a firearm had made off with €700.

The police Control Room informed the Birkirkara district police station, the Rapid Intervention Unit, the inspector on duty at headquarters and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

CID Inspector Keith Arnaud and Inspector Elton Taliana from the Birkirkara police station went on site and started to investigate by examining the shop’s CCTV footage.

Tuesday, August 6

CID Police Inspector Joseph Mercieca, who investigates hold-ups, was informed by another CID inspector, Carlos Cordina, that he had received confidential information that the crime was committed by a certain Darryl Luke Borg. The informer provided the police with a photo taken from Facebook since the police had no records.

An arrest warrant was issued and Mr Borg was arrested at around 1pm.

Wednesday, August 7, 12pm

Inspectors Mercieca and Cordina charged Mr Borg with the hold-up. They told Magistrate Gabriella Vella that CCTV footage showed Mr Borg inside the shop and he was identified. She denied him bail and he was remanded in custody.

Wednesday, August 7, 1pm

Inspector Taliana and court expert Martin Bajada went to Da Vinci Hospital up the road from the store to examine the closed circuit television camera footage when the former received a call from his superior, Antonello Grech, telling him to stop investigating the case as the CID had already charged a man in connection with the hold-up.

Thursday, August 8, 7pm

Police Inspector Taliana received confidential information from an informer that the person who had committed the hold-up was someone known as iċ-China ż-Żgħir. He arrested the man, Roderick Grech, and kept him overnight as his lawyer, whom he had wanted to consult, was not available until the following morning.

Friday, August 9, 9am

Inspector Taliana started to interrogate Mr Grech after the latter had spoken to his lawyer, Mark Vassallo. After first denying his involvement, Mr Grech changed his version at around 11am and admitted to having committed the hold-up. He released a statement and went with the police to fetch the balaclava and the pistol he had used.

With these in hand, the inspector called Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit, the duty magistrate, who told him to proceed to court for the arraignment. Mr Grech pleaded guilty and was handed a suspended sentence.

Soon after, Mr Borg’s lawyer filed an urgent request for his client to be released from jail. The request was immediately upheld.

Later in the day, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat ordered the Police Board to start an inquiry into how Mr Borg had been wrongly accused of the crime.

Saturday, August 10

The Police Board, chaired by retired judge Franco Depasquale, met for the first time.

Friday, August 30

The Police Board submitted its report to Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit and Interior Minister Manuel Mallia in which it recommended that action be taken against Inspector Taliana for failing to inform his superiors of Mr Grech’s arrest once he had known that someone else had been charged with the same crime.