Opposition leader Simon Busuttil yesterday slammed the inquiry into the shooting incident involving the Home Affairs Minister’s driver, saying it had failed “to put the people’s mind at rest” that all the truth had emerged.
“The inquiry made an acrobatic act to defend the Prime Minister’s head of communications, Kurt Farrugia, to shield the Prime Minister himself,” Dr Busuttil told a news conference at the party headquarters.
Flanked by the parliamentary group, he raised a series of questions on the manner in which the inquiry had been conducted.
“Why is it that Dr Mallia was asked to shoulder political responsibility for the mistake published in the press release on the night of the incident when the author [Mr Farrugia] was not found at fault?
“Is this a Prime Minister fit for purpose if it transpired from the inquiry that he went to sleep when faced by a case in which a minister’s driver was involved in a shooting incident?”
The inquiry made an acrobatic act to defend Farrugia
Dr Busuttil remarked that the fact that neither Dr Muscat nor his chief of staff, Keith Schembri, was called to testify in the inquiry raised questions about their possible involvement in this “cover-up”.
Describing the inquiry as “useless”, he argued that its conclusions were “obvious” and the Opposition had called for Dr Mallia’s resignation three weeks before.
“The belated decision to remove him raised questions on the Prime Minister’s political judgement.”
Dr Busuttil noted that only part of the report had been made public and called for the publication of the statements made by all those who had testified.
Commenting on the appointment of Michael Cassar as the new Police Commissioner, he said his greatest challenge would be to restore people’s trust in the force after 20 months, which saw four different people at its helm.
He questioned the decision to appoint outgoing acting police commissioner Ray Zammit as “second in command” in the wake of the inquiry’s damning conclusions in his regard.
Dr Busuttil noted that the Prime Minister’s “abdication” from his responsibility gave rise to a state of confusion because, for some time, it was not clear who was at the helm of the Home Affairs Ministry.
Asked by Times of Malta why the PN had not published part of the transcript of a telephone conversation in which the acting police commissioner had told Mr Farrugia that warning shots were fired, Dr Busuttil said the party’s media had published all the material at its disposal at the time.
At that stage, the PN was not in possession of the actual recordings, which were broadcast two days later, but only of parts of the transcripts, he added.
In a statement, the Labour Party accused Dr Busuttil of attacking the three judges hearing the inquiry. It lashed out at the PN leader for dodging questions on why the party’s media had been selective in the transcripts it had published.