[attach id=393822 size="medium"]Former Acting Police Commissioner Ray Zammit was irked at having been left off the list of past commissioners.[/attach]
He may have served as Acting Commissioner for six months, but Ray Zammit’s name has been left out of the official list of all commissioners in the corps’ 200-year history, prompting him to question the omission.
A plaque at the entrance of the police headquarters in Floriana has Michael Cassar, who succeeded Mr Zammit earlier this month, stepping into the post straight after Peter Paul Zammit, even though the latter’s tenure came to an end in July.
Appointed on July 3, Ray Zammit served at the helm of the force till December 8, when he was demoted two grades and is now Assistant Commissioner.
His resignation came in the wake of an inquiry into a shooting incident involving the driver of the then home affairs minister Manuel Mallia. According to this probe, Mr Zammit’s negligent handling of the case had strengthened cover-up allegations.
Sources told Times of Malta that the former Acting Commissioner was so irked by his name’s omission from the plaque that he sought an explanation from his superior.
“As a result the inscriber, who had already started to engrave the name of Mr Cassar, was told to stop pending a decision on this matter,” the source said.
Following consultations with the most senior officers in the force, Mr Zammit was told that acting commissioners did not qualify to be included in the list.
Attempts to contact Mr Zammit were futile by the time of writing.
When Times of Malta went on site to take a photo of the plaque, it was told that an official written request must be sent to take pictures on police premises.
However, Mr Zammit might consider himself unlucky as this rule does not seem to apply in the case of Malta’s head of state. Both Paul Xuereb and Albert Hyzler are included in the official list of presidents of Malta in the government’s official portal (www. gov.mt), even though they were only acting presidents.
Though there might be a case for including Mr Xuereb, as his tenure lasted for two years between February 1987 and April 1989, Dr Hyzler only served as acting president between December 1981 and February 1982.
Meanwhile the list of police commissioners in the portal needs some urgent updating. The Maltese version lists John Rizzo as Commissioner of Police even though his tenure ended in April last year, and the English version still puts Peter Paul Zammit as police chief.