The Police Commissioner in a statement this afternoon said a sergeant at Sliema police station informed AD leader Harry Vassallo about the arrest warrants issued against him when he went to his office to make inquiries about a burglary.

The Commissioner explained that on October 15, 2007 the police received two arrest warrants issued by the Courts on September 27, 2007 against Dr Vassallo over unpaid fines which had been converted into a prison term.

On October 18, 2007 the two warrants were sent to the Sliema police for execution.

They were handed to the sergeant at Sliema police station on November 12 but were not executed.

Since this sergeant was no longer posted at Sliema, on February 7 the warrants were handed to another sergeant.

On March 1 this sergeant was involved in investigations into a burglary in Sliema. Since Dr Vassallo's family had vacant property close to where the burglary took place, the sergeant, as was the norm, felt he needed to speak to Dr Vassallo to establish whether there was access from the Vassallo property to the property where the burglary took place.

After having phoned Dr Vassallo, the sergeant on Wednesday called on Dr Vassallo at his office..

Once he was going there, the sergeant felt he should also speak to Dr Vassallo about the arrest warrants.

According to the sergeant and the constable who accompanied him, they spoke to Dr Vassallo about their investigations into the burglary as well as the warrants. They asked Dr Vassallo to regularise his position instead of them having to proceed with the arrest as authorised by the court.

The meeting had been a very cordial one and matters stopped there, the police said.

Both the sergeant and the police constable categorically denied having communicated with a Media.link journalist or anybody else about the case. They also volunteered to make a sworn statement about the case,

The Commissioner said he was asking the chairman of the Police Board, Judge Franco Depasquale, to hold an inquiry into the case.