Incoming Police Commissioner Michael Cassar. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Charges have been issued against the brothers of George Farrugia, the rogue oil trader turned State witness in the Enemalta oil procurement scandal, almost two years after they were first arrested, incoming Police Commissioner Michael Cassar said.

Mr Cassar was answering questions by Times of Malta as he takes over from Acting Police Commissioner Ray Zammit, who was made to resign following the recent shooting incident involving Paul Sheehan, the police officer and driver of former Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia.

The new commissioner was asked about two pending cases which became political footballs since he left the Police Force to take over the Security Service after the March 2013 general election. The first was the oil scandal. The second was the investigation into former European Commissioner John Dalli, in which any new evidence, he said, would be thoroughly pursued.

On the oil scandal, Mr Cassar said the charges pending against the Farrugia brothers, Salvu, Antonio, Gaetano and Raymond, had been issued and the case appointed for February.

They will be charged after they allegedly admitted knowledge of the fact their brother was paying bribes to officials to secure oil contracts from Enemalta for Powerplan Ltd, the family business he once managed.

The brothers were arrested in March 2013, shortly before the general election, but never arraigned.

Former police inspector Angelo Gafà has told Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, which is discussing the case, that he intended prosecuting the brothers before he was reassigned to the Security Service in June 2013.

He said he was waiting for some bank documents before pushing ahead but confirmed the decision had been taken, leaving observers puzzled as to why no charges were issued in the meantime. This prompted the Opposition to question if the brothers had been spared prosecution because they were the former clients of Dr Mallia, who denied the claim.

Mr Cassar was one of the lead investigators in the Dalli case before he left the force to take over the Security Service, but yesterday said he had already expressed his opinion when giving evidence before MPs last month.

He had told them he felt the police would only stand a chance of securing a conviction against Mr Dalli if he was arraigned with his ex-canvasser Silvio Zammit, the only person charged in connection with the Dalli affair.

Mr Zammit was charged in court for allegedly asking a Swedish tobacco company for a €60 million bribe in order to alter tobacco EU legislation under Mr Dalli’s portfolio as the then commissioner.

Mr Cassar was not in Malta when the decision on whether to arraign Mr Dalli was taken but told the committee: “I believed that if we had arraigned John Dalli individually we would not have had a final conviction. There was only circumstantial evidence against Mr Dalli. It would have been a different story had the two men been arraigned together.”

Mr Dalli, in fact, never faced charges. He spent months abroad producing medical certificates claiming he was unfit to travel but returned following the election and the Police Commissioner appointed then, Peter Paul Zammit, decided not to arraign him.

Asked about new leads in the investigation of Mr Dalli, which were passed on to the Maltese police by the EU’s anti-fraud agency (OLAF) in July, Mr Cassar said: “I don’t feel it is appropriate for me to comment on this. I’m not trying to avoid your question, I assure you. What I can say is that any new evidence or any new investigative line will be pursued until exhausted.”

Speaking about the situation in the police force, Mr Cassar said he was well aware he was walking into the job at a very bad time. Well-meaning officers who had nothing to do with the case were impacted badly by the Sheehan affair, which had tarnished the force’s image.

“This is why one of the first tasks ahead is to raise morale. But that is not enough, I feel there isn’t in the police force that esprit de corps that there used to be back in the day, and we need to work hard to regain this. We are in a difficult situation but it’s not impossible to overcome,” he said.

He would not take questions on the shooting case directly but said his focus was on “making sure there isn’t a repeat of this”.

Speaking on TVM later, he said he would tolerate meetings between police officers and criminals only for intelligence gathering.

He also spoke of a lack of respect for rank and a lack of discipline in the force, a situation which had been deteriorating for years.