(Adds Ministry statement)
The Police Board inquiry report published yesterday is a ‘travesty of justice’ for which the Prime Minister is to blame, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said this morning.
Speaking during a radio interview, Dr Busuttil said he did not blame the board members or its chairman for the report but the Prime Minister who appointed the board and requested it to investigate the person who corrected a mistake that had been done by others.
“This is unbelievable. It is symptomatic of how this government is treating the police force…”
Dr Busuttil said that when the new Police Commissioner was appointed, the Nationalist Party had reservations because he was a Labour activist and the force deserved all the people’s respect. Time was proving the party right.
For there was now a Police Commissioner under whom policemen were sent to work as waiters or went for fun trips on police boats.
The Commissioner had also invaded privacy by asking for the telephone logs of a victim.
“What guarantee do I have that he will not ask for record of my calls?”
Because he was a PL activist, the Commissioner was more intent on covering the mistakes of his minister and the party he supported.
But the Opposition would not allow him to change the force into a Labour Party club.
“This is a serious warning. We will also not allow the Commissioner to politically victimise people.”
In a county were the seriousness within the police force had been taken for granted, a red light had been lit.
“Will the PL be repeating its mistakes of the past,” Dr Busuttil asked adding that the PN would be speaking out about these matters.
Dr Busuttil denied allegations that he encouraged people to leave the General Workers’ Union and join the Union Haddiema Maghqudin and said he would be seeking legal advice about the manner.
He expressed concern that now that the PL was in government the GWU was still more intent on attacking the PN rather than defend the workers.
“Who is it serving, the workers or the government?”
On the recent hearings of the Public Accounts Committee on the oil procurement scandal, he said it had been established that the Auditor’s Report had a number of serious shortcomings.
These included that some people mentioned or affected by the report had not even been spoken to by the Auditor’s office.
The Auditor had also appointed an expert to carry out the report by giving a direct order. This was the office that was there to ensure that tenders were awarded through competition. Moreover, the job was given to a person who chaired Enemalta at a time when people who had been charged with their involvement in the scandal in court were employees.
Dr Busuttil noted that the Auditor had confirmed there were administrative shortcomings and not a criminal activity, shortcomings most of which were corrected by the Nationalist government. This showed that the PL’s bubble has been burst.
However, he said that as leader of the Opposition he was not pleased that administrative mistakes had been carried out under a Nationalist administration and the party had to learn from this.
Dr Busuttil also spoke about the situation in Syria, which he described as preoccupying problem in front of which the Maltese government was not taking action.
It was also a problem that would affect Malta as Syrian refugees would be arriving here as they were arriving in Lampedusa.
Dr Busuttil criticised the “incompetent manner” with which the Government was addressing the problem, destroying the country’s reputation in the EU and instigating racism and xenophobia.
He said that out of the 16,000 irregular immigrants who arrived in Malta under Nationalist administrations, only 3,000 remained.
PN'S ATTACKS ON COUNTRY'S RESPECTED INSTITUTIONS CONTINUE - PL
In a statement, the Labour Party accused the PN of continuing to attack the country's respected institutions.
The PL said Dr Busuttil attacked the Police Commissioner and defended an inspector who had been found to have not carried out his duties well. Dr Busuttil also attacked the office of the Auditor General, it said.
OPPOSITION LEADER 'IRRESPONSIBLE' - MINISTRY
In another statement, the Home Affairs Ministry said the leader of the Opposition was being irresponsible when he attacked the credibility of respected institutions in the country such as the Police Force and the Police Board.
It said that the situation within the force inherited from the previous government was being rectified. The Ministry allowed the Police Board to carry out an independent investigation without political interference and in full confidence in the judge who presided the institution.
On the other hand, the Opposition prejudiced the investigation with irresponsible statements and political immaturity with the clear intention of defending someone. Dr Busuttil’s attack on Judge Franco Depasquale and the other members of the board showed a lack of seriousness and trust in institutions.
This was symptomatic of the arrogance which used to be shown by the Nationalist Government, the ministry said.
Instead of admitting they left a disastrous situation within the force and in prisons, they were trying to attack these institutions to cover themselves.
The Ministry said it would continue to work seriously to see to the shortcomings left by the previous administration and would not fall for provocation and the political immaturity being shown by Dr Busuttil and the Nationalist Party.