Shadow Minister for Home Affairs Jason Azzopardi yesterday said the leadership of the police force lacked any basis of telling right from wrong.

Speaking on the adjournment, he said it was only normal that any minister would appoint persons of trust to his secretariat.

But for more than 18 months a member of the corps had been working in a secretariat: as head of customer care in the Energy Ministry. The police officer concerned had done well because his income had jumped from €17,000 a year to some €30,000.

Another case was of a police sergeant, very close to Labour, who after the change of government had started pushing for a special role.

He had been given one that did not exist before: visiting ministries to see that everything was going well.

In recent months, Dr Azzopardi said, this officer had been known to go to Castille and declare he was part of the inner core.

His complaints had been heeded and he had been posted to the Freeport in a security role above the establishment’s own security personnel, even though he had no idea or experience of the job, which involved the fight against smuggling.

From an income of about €18,000 he was now getting €35,000, Dr Azzopardi said.

Last November the Malta Police Association had taken the unprecedented step of presenting a judicial protest against the Minister for Home Affairs because he and the Prime Minister had gone behind its back and inserted an addendum in the collective agreement so that the highest echelons of the corps would no longer be independent and autonomous.

When the new minister was appointed, several had hoped the issue would be solved but it was still wide open.