The Opposition yesterday lambasted the Police Board for exonerating the Criminal Investigation Department for charging the wrong person and pinning all the blame on the inspector who caught the right man.

“The report comes down like a ton of bricks on Insp. Elton Taliana, but the CID gets away scot-free without one iota of criticism. Does this have anything to do with promises of promotions before the March election?” Home Affairs spokesman Jason Azzopardi said in his first reaction to the 13-page report.

“The board condemned a person who carried out his duty... the feeling is that policemen are now scared of doing their job,” he said, questioning the credibility of the board, which he said was an extension of the Labour Party.

He stressed that although the Police Board was headed by an independent person – retired judge Franco Depas-quale – this did not make the board independent.

Asked if it was acceptable that Insp. Taliana worked within a vacuum by failing to inform his superiors, Dr Azzopardi conceded that while there could have been better coordination Insp. Taliana had no legal obligation to do so.

Pressed to say whether Insp. Taliana had done anything wrong, Dr Azzopardi insisted he had carried out his duty.

This incident, he said, exposed serious shortcomings within the force and someone had to shoulder political responsibility for the detention of an innocent man.

“The public demand to know why the wrong person was detained by the CID for a crime he didn’t commit.”