Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday defended a top-ranking government official, saying he acted in a proper way when he met the main witness to an investigation over a police blunder.
Asked about the incident involving Silvio Scerri, chief of staff at the Home Affairs Ministry, Dr Muscat said the ministry had a duty to hear Daryl Borg, the man wrongly accused of committing a hold-up.
“As far as I am informed it was Daryl Borg who had asked to speak to the ministry. After hearing what he had to say, the ministry official acted correctly and asked Mr Borg to testify in front of the proper inquiry being conducted by the Prison Board.”
Asked if Mr Scerri acted correctly when he met Mr Borg with Charles Attard – a convicted criminal known as Iż-Żambi – the Prime Minister said this was “unrelated” as Mr Attard seemed to be the victim’s person of trust.
Last Saturday, the Opposition’s Home Affairs spokesman Jason Azzopardi revealed that a meeting had taken place between Mr Scerri and Mr Borg. He alleged that the meeting had been called by Mr Scerri himself, through Mr Attard.
‘Outrageous’ that criminal was used
Dr Azzopardi said it was outrageous and scandalous that the chief of staff had used a criminal – convicted of attempted murder in 1994 – to speak to the main witness of a Prison Board inquiry.
While admitting he met Mr Borg, Mr Scerri denied he used Mr Attard as an intermediary, saying Mr Borg, his mother and a third person, whom he did not know, arrived at the ministry on Tuesday afternoon asking to speak to him.
Since joining the ministry, former businessman Mr Scerri has been in the news several times. His name was connected with the episode of police acting as waiters in an official banquet, he ordered the police to arrest the security boss at the MTV concert, and he sat in on interviews of Security Service staff with the minister.
Asked whether he was preoccupied with the number of stories involving Mr Scerri, Dr Muscat said it was the newspapers who were giving attention to Mr Scerri.
“I have no control over what stories are carried by newspapers.”
Reacting to the PM’s comments, the PN said it was shocking that Dr Muscat saw nothing wrong in the fact that a senior ministry official spoke to a main witness in a supposedly independent inquiry.
The party said the episode was all the more scandalous now that it had the PM’s approval. “In doing so, Dr Muscat ignored every concept of accountability and standards of governance,” the PN said.
The Labour Party said Dr Azzopardi would have to shoulder political responsibility over his serious allegations.
Labour said the Government must hear all those who wished to speak up, and act accordingly.
The Government in a statement questioned who the Opposition was defending in this case.