Two CID officers who had wrongfully charged a 27-year-old man with a hold-up are to be disciplined after an internal probe concluded mistakes were made.

Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit yesterday confirmed that an internal panel, led by Assistant Commissioner Neville Aquilina, had concluded its probe and recommended disciplinary action against inspectors Joseph Mercieca and Carlos Cordina.

The commissioner would not go into the details, saying that a decision had not yet been made on the action to be taken but it would be made public once it became final.

The development comes a month after a Police Board inquiry into the case of chastised inspector Elton Taliana – the officer who in the end arraigned the right person – for failing to alert his chain of command about the mistake, but did not apportion any blame on Inspectors Mercieca and Cordina.

Questioned on this point, the Commissioner echoed the Police Board in saying it had no remit to probe the CID’s own investigation.

“The board is administrative and its remit was to decide whether there were any administrative shortcomings.

“It concluded Inspector Taliana failed to speak up the minute he found out that a mistake had been made,” the commissioner said.

Action to be taken will be made public after final decision

But the board had been given a wide remit by the Prime Minister, who tasked the Police Board with probing why the police had wrongfully arraigned 27-year-old Darryl Luke Borg over a hold-up on a Birkirkara confectionary.

The mistake became public only when Inspector Taliana arraigned Roderick Grech, 22, who admitted the offence.

The commissioner said the internal panel had been tasked specifically to question the investigative procedures and whether the officers had reached a reasonable degree of probability that the man they charged was guilty.

Officers’ decision probed

“Unfortunately,” he said, drawing on a Maltese proverb, “a hasty cat delivers blind kittens.

“We all make mistakes and one always has to consider a person’s track record but haste in these things is always a problem.”

Haste in these things is always a problem

The conclusions of the Police Board last month led to a political backlash with Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil describing the board’s findings as “a travesty of justice”.

Mr Taliana challenged the board’s conclusions, through his lawyer, who argued the timeline of events showed his client’s lack of communication had little or no bearing on the length of time Mr Borg spent in jail because the mistake was flagged in court when the real culprit was charged.

Mr Taliana is also facing disciplinary proceedings, in line with the Police Board’s recommendations.