Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday strongly denied he had interfered with the decision by the Commissioner of Police in the John Dalli case.

Giving evidence before the House Privileges Committee, Dr Muscat said comments made by Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil – to the effect that he had influenced Mr Zammit – remained unsubstantiated. A political assumption was not a fact, he said.

The committee started hearing evidence on the breach of privilege complaint raised by Dr Muscat against Dr Busuttil over the Opposition Leader’s claim that Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit’s decision not to take action against former European Commissioner Mr Dalli was the result of political interference.

Last September, the Speaker had ruled that the way Dr Busuttil had put a question implied the Prime Minister had “bad motives”.

Dr Muscat said Dr Busuttil had failed to substantiate his allegation, which was couched in question form. This implied an allegation that the law had been broken – and there-fore that he had committed a criminal act.

The Leader of the Opposition, said Dr Muscat, had alleged the Commissioner of Police was loyal to the Prime Minister and not the country, that the allegation made was derived from evidence given in court and that his conclusions were political ones.

He challenged these positions and said it was his right to re-quest substantiation as they threatened basic human rights. Otherwise, the allegations should be retracted.

This motion would bring no sanctions on the Leader of the Opposition but would simply set the record straight.

He rejected the Opposition’s line of questioning linking Mr Dalli’s appointment (at the Health Ministry) to the declaration by Mr Zammit that there was no case against the former Commissioner.

Dr Muscat said the Leader of the Opposition alleged political interference which he was denying categorically. Dr Busuttil’s logic was that the difference in opinion between the police commissioners (John Rizzo and subsequently Zammit) inevitably implied political intervention on his part.

Replying to questions by Chris Said (PN), Dr Muscat said he had not been informed by the Police Commissioner that the case against Mr Dalli was closed. He got to know of this throughthe media.

At some point Mr Dalli had called him in the aftermath of his resignation from the Commission.

It was the Health Minister who had suggested that Mr Dalli lend his expertise in the sector and he had approached Mr Dalli on behalf of the Prime Minister.

He also confirmed that he had removed Commissioner Rizzo and appointed Commissioner Zammit as was his duty. He said he felt it was time for Mr Rizzo to make way for others while retaining his experience in other sectors.