The shadow minister for home affairs, Jason Azzopardi, insisted today that the Commissioner of Police had no right to request phone logs from telephony companies regarding the ongoing controversy about the meeting two weeks ago between the man who was wrong accused of a hold-up and the Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The commissioner, Peter Paul Zammit, said in an interview last week that phone logs showed that it was Borg who had contacted the ministry. He was replying to remarks by Dr Azzopardi that it was the ministry that had contacted Borg by using convicted criminal Charles Attard Iz-Zambi as a go-between.
Dr Azzopardi argued at a press conference today that according to law, the police could only demand such information when they suspected a crime which carried a penalty of not less than a year imprisonment. This, he said, was proved by caselaw in which the commissioner himself was involved (when he was a superintendent).
Dr Azzopardi was accompanied by PN deputy leader for party affairs Beppe Fenech Adami, who said such goings on eroded public confidence in the police force.
He said the Data Protection Commissioner has been asked to investigate the Police Commissioner's behaviour.
"If it results that the Police Commissioner abused his power he should shoulder responsibility and resign," Dr Fenech Adami insisted, adding this was a serious breach of civil rights.
Dr Fenech Adami insisted a meeting between Mr Scerri and a wrongly accused man should have never been held irrespective of who requested it let alone that it seemed to have been arranged by convicted criminal Charles Attard known as Iz-Zambi.
When asked whether they had information as to whether the service providers did forward the requested information, the spokesmen insisted they could not speculate and it was up to the Police Commissioner to publish the information he had.
The spokesmen also drew a distinction between the Head of the Police Board, former judge Franco Depasquale and its other members. The Board is investigating the police's actions to determine what led to the wrong arraignment.
"I have full trust in Mr Justice Depasquale but the police board is close to resembling a Labour Party club," Dr Fenech Adami said of the other members that were appointed recently.