The Vassallo inquiry, branded a “whitewash” by the Opposition, established that the police followed normal procedure in a drug-related case in Gozo. That may be the case but where the inquiry fails to convince is regarding allegations that two senior government politicians intervened or tried to intervene.
The inquiry was ordered by the Prime Minister in the wake of a front-page report on MaltaToday. The report was submitted on April 4 and a serious problem immediately surfaced. The Prime Minister noticed that although two Cabinet ministers had been identified they had not been interviewed by the board.
This was a major flaw in the inquiry – even if subsequently rectified – and a read through the 12-page report indicates that this serious shortcoming – not speaking to the ‘actors’ – was not limited to the two senior government politicians.
The editor of MaltaToday insisted the information he had was not based on hearsay. He said his sources were “two or three policemen, police sources” who were physically present. Yet, the only policemen the board spoke to were the Police Commissioner and the investigating officer. The police force would have readily furnished information on all the officers involved in the case and made them available to the inquiry board.
The newspaper also reported that police motorcyclists escorted key witnesses to a late-night meeting. The inquiry report does not indicate they were traced and interviewed.
The Police Commissioner told the board a request by the Foreign Affairs Ministry would be required to give a police escort to a government minister. That would make sense in the case of a visiting government minister of a foreign country but can one exclude that somebody, say from the Gozo Ministry, would informally seek the help of the Gozo police to assist a minister to attend an urgent meeting?
It was alleged the meeting took place at the Gozo Ministry in Victoria. Were staff members there interviewed and was any CCTV footage examined?
Did the board check whether then home affairs minister Manuel Mallia and Gozo minister Anton Refalo – the two politicians in question – were in Gozo on that night? Were their whereabouts established?
Since the investigating officer said that the female suspect had never approached them to change her statement but MaltaToday alleged she had visited the Victoria police station together with her lawyer in October 2013 to do so, were the Victoria police station records examined? Was her lawyer asked whether such a meeting had happened or not (without going into details because of confidentiality)?
Were the parents of the suspects interviewed and were their whereabouts at the time the meeting supposedly took place established?
The issue of the suspect changing her statement is crucial since it was alleged that this happened after the intervention of the two politicians. The board appears to accept that no such thing happened. Yet, it emerges from the report that the investigating officer had said that, when appearing before the inquiring magistrate, the female suspect confirmed the statement she had given the police bar what she had said about another suspect in relation to drug trafficking. Did this not tickle the curiosity of the inquiry board?
Evidently, there is still a lot to be done to establish all the material and pertinent facts in this case.