Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/421389
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 23 NOVEMBER 2014 5 sion of the inquiring magistrate. We suspect that the Acting Police Com- missioner is also involved in the cov- er-up because he was present for a meeting between himself, the home affairs ministry and the Office of the Prime Minister." When asked if Zammit's role would be established in the mag- isterial inquiry, the PN leader said the commissioner should make his position clear. "[Sheehan] has not been arrested, charged or arraigned in court. The Acting Police Commis- sioner must explain." Busuttil said Muscat's decision to wait for the outcome of the magiste- rial inquiry was "just an excuse not to fire Mallia" and milked the unfolding situation by saying the prime minis- ter's credibility was "in freefall… if he fails to remove Mallia then it is clear he is an accomplice." Placing the political responsibil- ity at Mallia's doorstep, Busuttil said Sheehan's use of force was "down to the minister who allowed him to do what he wants... the result of a culture that under a Labour gov- ernment anything goes and that you can do whatever you want if you are close to the government." Tweet wars On Saturday evening, Muscat fi- nally ordered a government inquiry to be headed by a retired judge and two former members of the judici- ary. But in his tweet inviting Busuttil to name the inquiry board's presi- dent, Muscat was swiftly rebuffed by Busuttil who said he would have no part in doing the prime minister's job. Muscat's inquiry board will be tasked to explore the allegations of the cover-up and whether Manuel Mallia or any other officials were "il- licitly" involved in any way. The in- quiry should also determine whether Mallia intervened to cover up Shee- han's actions or any other issue con- cerning the behaviour of the minister or other official during the incident. "The Prime Minister took this de- cision because he believes that all facts should be made known and investigated," the OPM said in its statement, insisting that Mallia will submit himself to the scrutiny of the inquiry. Busuttil is likely not to reply to Muscat's invitation to nominate the inquiry head by 6pm today. The Na- tionalist Party said Muscat was ab- dicating from his responsibility and passing the buck onto the board of inquiry: "The Prime Minister is with his back against the wall and remains weak in the face of abuse of power. Instead of sacking Manuel Mallia immediately, Muscat is shrugging off his responsibility. Everyone knows that no judge can assume the politi- cal responsibility over Wednesday's incident." time of the incident was at the Flori- ana police headquarters, will not be the one to carry the can. "I was shocked, angered and dis- gusted. It was an unjustifiable over- reaction by a member of the disci- plined corps. The issue at stake is what responsibility Mallia had [in the incident]. If the magisterial in- quiry shows that Mallia knew of what was happening or gave in- structions to the driver, then there is political responsibility to carry. But if the driver acted on his own irresponsible initiative, the matter is different," he told Ghandi Xi Ng- hid presenter Andrew Azzopardi on Radju Malta. The Opposition however is claim- ing that initial claims that the shots had been warning shots fired in the air, was an attempt at a cover-up, which Muscat has strongly refuted. "No cover-up takes place under the glare of the media cameras, who were granted access to the site of the incident. Government communica- tions were relaying any information coming their way in real time, as the situation unfolded… it was what they were getting from the site, and could not be verified independently. "While the first information was that warning shots had been fired, it was the cameras that showed oth- erwise. You cannot have a cover-up when there was access granted to the media," Muscat said of the gap- ing bullet holes on the rear of the car of Stephen Smith, the Scotsman giv- en chase by Mallia's security driver, Paul Sheehan, after the Scotsman allegedly hit the ministerial car as it lay parked in Gzira. Sheehan and another security driver for Mallia, both police of- ficers, share one weapon between them. Sheehan was said to have giv- en chase to Smith and then fired at least two shots at the rear of the car. He has since been suspended from ministerial and police duties. Muscat also played down the scale of responsibility for allegedly illegal works being carried out in a proper- ty that civil liberties minister Helena Dalli has yet to sell to a purchaser, who is carrying out the works while the property is still under a promise- of-sale agreement. Dalli's responsibility appeared compounded by the presence of a disused loader belonging to her fam- ily firm, Pada Builders, on the site of the works. "A report by an engineer confirmed that the machinery was in fact not working. I'm sure things could have been done better, I'm certainly not happy about things," the prime minister said. He harked back to the bribery charges against Noel Borg Hed- ley, the private secretary of former finance minister Tonio Fenech. "Fenech said he had nothing to do with the matter. I don't like using these precedents, but I tell my peo- ple to be cautious in their actions." 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