Joseph Muscat. Photo: Jason Borg

The police should have handled things better in the case of Norman Vella, after he was accused of taking pictures in a restricted airport area, according to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

“I don’t interfere in police investigations but things could have been done better,” Dr Muscat said in an interview with The Sunday Times of Malta.

Asked if he planned to do anything about the matter, after Mr Vella, a former TV presenter, called for an investigation, Dr Muscat said he did not feel it was his place to meddle in police investigations.

A magistrate ordered the police to return a mobile phone and computer tablet they had confiscated from Mr Vella, ruling they had seized them in the absence of reasonable suspicion of a crime.

The police were acting on a report that Mr Vella, an immigration officer at the Malta International Airport had taken pictures of the Government’s Head of Communications, Kurt Farrugia, and the spokeswoman for the Home Affairs Ministry, Ramona Attard, as they went through the airport in a restricted area.

Mr Vella denied ever taking the pictures, prompting a political war of words.

When it was put to him that there was no ongoing investigation, Dr Muscat referred to the Police Board and the courts, saying there were legal mechanisms for oversight and redress that Mr Vella could use.

“There are mechanisms of oversight that should not include politicians, and they exist,” he said. Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit presented a still image in court, taken from airport CCTV, which showed Mr Vella looking at his phone.

Mechanisms of oversight that should not include politicians exist

But the magistrate ruled that this proved nothing, as Mr Vella had not been prohibited from using his phone during working hours.

On this basis, the police did not have reasonable suspicion with which to proceed.

Dr Muscat denied there was any political interference in the case; however, he disagreed with a statement made in the wake of the ruling by the Police Commissioner, who said that the decree was not enough to change police practice since it came from a magistrate’s court.

Dr Muscat said every ruling of any judicial authority ought to be respected.

“I say that while you may disagree, any ruling by any judicial authority should be followed.”

However, when pressed on whether this required his attention, Dr Muscat again referred to the courts and the police board.