(Adds report of Opposition's, Minister's press conferences)

The Police Commissioner shall be taking action against Inspector Elton Taliana, who has been deemed responsible for a recent police blunder which saw a man wrongly charged with a hold up in Birkirkara, even though he was the one to arraign the right person.

The Police Board, which was convened to look into the case of mistaken arraignment, found Insp. Taliana at fault because he failed to raise the alarm when he found that the police had got the wrong man.

“The Board is of the view that these shortcomings were due to the fact that Inspector Taliana, instead of cooperating with other police officers who he knew had investigated and charged another person in court, chose to forge ahead without communicating with any colleague or superior who had been in touch with him in connection with the case...”

The conclusion forms part of a report which was delivered by the Police Board, headed by Judge Franco Depasquale, to the Home Affairs Minister and the Police Commissioner on Friday and which has now been made public through an official government statement.

In a statement this afternoon, the police said disciplinary and/or criminal action will be taken as recommended by the board.

The statement said that the Police Commissioner shall be seeking the advice of the Attorney General as to whether criminal action should be taken against Insp. Taliana.

It said that the case would be taken to the Permanent Disciplinary Board within the Home Affairs Ministry as the shortcoming was considered a grievous one which could lead to the dismissal of an officer from the force.

The police said the Commissioner had the power to suspend the official from his duties as soon as he was notified of the charges.

The case emerged after Inspector Taliana earlier this month charged 22-year-old Roderick Grech with a hold-up on a Birkirkara confectionary only days after CID police inspectors Joseph Mercieca and Carlos Cordina mistakenly accused Darryl Borg of the same crime.

The second suspect admitted his charges and Mr Borg was eventually released. But only after he spent almost four days in prison on remand.

The CID inspectors had arrested Mr Borg on the basis of a tip-off from an informant and the fact that he could not give a reliable alibi for the period when the crime was committed.

They also acted on the fact that Mr Borg had been convicted of a few thefts in the past and had a drug problem.

However, the board did not probe whether the police was justified to charge the man on the basis of what they had in hand.

It did, however, chastise the fact that though Insp. Taliana knew he had the right man just 24 hours after the first suspect was arraigned, he did not say a word to anyone and the fact only emerged in court when he formally charged Mr Grech a day later.

Insp. Taliana defended himself on the basis that he was only legally obliged to inform the duty magistrate, which he did on the day of the arraignment.

The board’s report in full can be read in the pdf link below.

BOARD CONDEMNED MAN WHO SOLVED A CRIME - Opposition spokesman

Opposition Home Affairs spokesman Jason Azzopardi asked who will be shouldering political responsibility for the arraignment and detention of an innocent person by the CID.

Addressing a news conference this afternoon, he said the Police Inquiry board found guilty the one person who took action and carried out his duty, turning the truth upside down.

“This board condemned a man who solved a crime.”

He said he had discussed the report with a number of policemen who, as a result, were scared of doing their job.

Dr Azzopardi said that the fact that the board was headed by an independent person did not make it an independent board and he had reservations about the other members.

The inquiry was drawn up by a board and not by one person and nobody is above scrutiny.

When asked if, in his opinion, Insp. Taliana had acted correctly, Dr Azzopardi said that while there could have been better coordination, the report placed the blame on Insp. Taliana and completely exonerated the CID.

“The public expect and demand to know why the mistake happened and the wrong person was charged and wrongly detained by the CID.”

At no point did the board criticise the CID. “Does this have anything to do with promises of promotions,” Dr Azzopardi asked.

He said the incident exposed the shortcomings of the force and someone had to shoulder political responsibility for the detention of an innocent man.

Dr Azzopardi said that while there were persons who were charged and not found guilty there had to be reasonable suspicions to arraign someone.

NATIONALIST MP SHOWED 'GREAT POLITICAL IMMATURITY'

Addressing a news conference later, Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia accused Dr Azzopardi of having carried out a campaign to try to prejudice the case and said the Nationalist MP had shown great political immaturity.

Insisting that he did not want to comment in favour or against the report, he said that Dr Azzopardi’s argument that he had confidence in the chairman but not in the rest of the board members did not make sense.

For how could someone of Judge Depasquale’s calibre sign a report if he believed there had been the manoeuvrings Dr Azzopardi implied there were. He also insisted that it was not true that the board members were of the same political opinion.

Dr Mallia said that this report was just an opinion and the case would now be decided by the Permanent Disciplinary Board within the Home Affairs Ministry.

MINISTER DID NOT REPLY TO POINTS RAISED BY OPPOSITION - PN

In another statement, the PN accused the minister of not replying to the legitimate points raised by the Opposition.

It said that the minister did not say whether it was acceptable for a police board not to find anything to criticise in the operations of the CID, or if it was acceptable for an innocent person to be charged. He also failed to say whether it was acceptable for the board to recommend action against the person who charged the right person.

The PN noted that the minister insisted he did not want to speak about the case which was to be taken to the ministry’s permanent disciplinary board so as not to prejudice it.

Using the same yardstick, the Police Commissioner prejudiced the case when he gave an interview in the media last week and said it had been alleged that a district inspector was trying to influence a witness, something that did not come out in the report.

The minister still had a lot to answer about the case and the behavior of the Police Commissioner and his chief of staff Silvio Scerri.