The Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Silvio Scerri, on Tuesday sent for the man who was wrongly charged over a hold-up and spoke to him for half an hour about the case before telling him to appear before the Police Board, the Opposition spokesman for Home Affairs, Jason Azzopardi told a press conference today.

To make matters worse, the wrongly arraigned man - Darryl Luke Borg - was contacted through a convicted criminal, Charles Attard known as Iz-Zambi, he added. Mr Attard served time for the attempted murder of Richard Cachia Caruana, personal assistant to former Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami.

The claim was immediately denied by Mr Scerri, who told Times of Malta that Mr Borg and his mother had gone to the ministry accompanied by Mr Attard and asked to speak to the minister. Since the minister, Emanuel Mallia, was abroad, Mr Scerri said he spoke to them instead and asked them to appear before the Police Board investigating the case. He then phoned Judge Francesco Depasquele and told him that Mr Borg was prepared to meet the board.

Darryl Luke Borg

In his press conference Dr Azzopardi recalled that Mr Borg was mistakenly accused of carrying out a hold-up. He was held in remand for three days before the police arraigned somebody else, who pleaded guilty.

The Home Affairs Minister had immediately called for an investigation, Dr Azzopardi recalled, and Mr Borg was the main witness. But on Tuesday, the minister's Chief of Staff contacted Mr Borg through a third person and told him to go to Valletta to speak to him. 

Mr Borg, his mother and Mr Attard met Mr Scerri for half an hour and Mr Scerri asked Mr Borg many questions, including why he was praising Inspector Elton Taliana in the media. (Inspector Taliana was the officer who arraigned the person who pleaded guilty.)

Mr Borg replied that he did not know the inspector but had he not done his job and found the culprit he would still be in jail.

Mr Scerri informed Mr Borg that he was to appear before the Police Board the day after.

Dr Azzopardi said it was scandalous that the Chief of Staff had  approached a main witness in an investigation, and that he did so through a third person, Charles Attard, who was convicted of attempted murder in 1994.

"It is shocking how a high-ranking official uses a criminal to contact someone. Who is going to assume responsibility for this abuse of power?" Dr Azzopardi asked.

It was worrying, he added, how a high ranking officer was buddy buddy with a convicted criminal.

The Home Affairs Ministry, he said, had hit rock bottom, with this case coming in the wake of other cases such as when policemen were ordered to work as waiters; when there were over 300 transfers within the police corps for political reasons, and when the minister and his chief of staff attended interviews for Secret Service recruitment.

"The government has to assume responsibility for this. I am expecting the same responsibility and accountability that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was expecting prior to the March elections. I expected better judgement by Mr Scerri. It is wrong that a ministry official approaches one of the witnesses in an inquiry," Dr Azzopardi argued.

Dr Azzopardi also condemned manoeuvres, especially by Labour media, to place Inspector Taliana in a bad light when he did his job and arraigned the culprit of a crime.

"We have reached a situation where what was wrong, became right. This is supposed to be an independent inquiry. How independent will it remain if someone outside the police board intervenes? Dr Azzopardi asked.

GOVERNMENT STATEMENT

In a statement the Ministry of home Affairs accused Dr Azzopardi of attempting to prejudice the Police Board investigation.

It insisted that it was Darryl Luke Borg who approached the ministry, and he revealed new facts. He was then encouraged to relay those facts to the Police Board.

The ministry expressed its confidence in Judge Depasquale, who is heading the investigation, and said that one hoped that the conclusions would cast more light on the case and the motives which led Dr Azzopardi to make his comments today.