The Police Commissioner made an appearance in court last week after being personally asked by a Magistrate to supply information about an elusive taxpayer whom the police have been unable to track down for the past five years.
During all this time, local authorities have not been successful in serving Peter Paul Muscat, of Nadur, with a notice of summons to appear in court to answer to charges of failure to pay tax arrears.
During one tax sitting in February, having been informed by the prosecution for the umpteenth time that Mr Muscat was nowhere to be found, Magistrate Ian Farrugia had declared that unless the man was found and produced for the next sitting in May, the Police Commissioner in person would have to supply an explanation.
‘No other representative for the Commissioner will do,’ magistrate Farrugia had stressed.
Surely enough, it was Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar who turned up in court informing the magistrate how the Crime Intelligence Unit had been tasked to investigate the matter locally.
Mr Cutajar explained that the Gozitan had been on the wanted list since 2014 on the basis of a respite warrant after failing to pay a fine imposed by a court.
Mr Muscat’s name was also mentioned on the Malta Police Border Control List, the Commissioner further explained.
Checks with the Social Security Department and Jobsplus had given negative results, meaning that the man had never applied for social benefits and had never been registered as an employee.
Investigations had gone even further, Commissioner Cutajar declared, explaining that the local police had even contacted Interpol, receiving a reply from Washington in April stating that it had been determined that “the subject matching in name and identifiers may possibly reside in the United States”.
It had been confirmed that a man with such particulars possibly resided in Michigan, the court heard.
The man’s daughter had also told the police how her father had gone to America and had never returned, the Commissioner went on, explaining further that police patrolling the areas where relatives of Mr Muscat lived, had never spotted the man himself.
The case continues.