PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami yesterday called on Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela to shoulder political responsibility for having accepted two convicted criminals as recruits in the Civil Protection Department.
Dr Fenech Adami warned him to “tread with fear” and keep his “eyes wide open” because he had inherited “an accident waiting to happen” from former minister Manuel Mallia.
Speaking during the debate in second reading of the Civil Protection (Amendment) Bill, Dr Fenech Adami said the disciplined corps were suffering from continuous political interference.
The police were in “total degeneration” and citizens had lost confidence in them because of the actions of former commissioner Peter Paul Zammit.
The police are in ‘total degeneration’ and citizens have lost confidence in them because of Peter Paul Zammit
The AFM was demoralised after its commander [Brigadier Jeffrey Curmi] was handpicked by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat because he was a close friend. The AFM’s best men had been lost and those who stayed on sidelined. New recruits had been engaged in the Civil Protection Department in a “scandalous, work for votes” exercise.
The conditions in the call for applications had been widened to age 55. “Nowhere in the world does such an age bracket exist,” Dr Fenech Adami said.
The scheme was devised to favour certain applicants over more seasoned ones, he charged.
Those close to the PL were advised to join the CPD volunteer corps because one of the conditions said experience in assistance and rescue would be considered. Volunteers of a few months leapfrog those with years of experience.
“Three-fourths of those engaged are sham volunteers,” Dr Fenech Adami said. He identified three, aged 52, 50 and 55: Renè Xuereb, who posed with Dr Muscat on Facebook and sang Malta Tagħna Lkoll; David Caruana, whose only qualification was that he was one of the ‘I’m In’ crowd posing with Minister Konrad Mizzi, and another person whose girlfriend worked at the OPM.
Applicants must be of good moral character. So how come two of them were Jonathan Callus and Nathalino Spiteri, both of whom were found guilty of insurance fraud in 2006? It was clear they could not be trusted and did not have a clean conduct certificate.
These were gross injustices against established volunteers who had given years of sterling service to the department. These people were angry because they were eliminated simply for not having gone to the Labour minister to seek advice on how to short-circuit the system, Dr Fenech Adami concluded.