Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/510672
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 13 MAY 2015 7 News Muscat: Former police chief 'shouldered responsibility' when he resigned MIRIAM DALLI PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat has said that a former commissioner of police he appointed to the role in 2013 had "shouldered responsibil- ity" when he resigned as police chief last year. Muscat said that both he and Pe- ter Paul Zammit, appointed as a coordinator for security during na- tional events after he was asked to resign, "mutually agreed" to have him move out of the post a day af- ter the head of the EU's anti-fraud agency, Giovanni Kessler, alleged that Zammit had not cooperated on three requests by OLAF to as- sist in an investigation concerning former European Commissioner John Dalli. A damning report tabled in parlia- ment on Monday evening revealed that Zammit had instructed police officers not to press charges against a man who had assaulted police of- ficers. The man was a former client of Zammit, who was a legal procu- rator. Zammit's shirt tenure as chief of police was marred by repeated requests by the Opposition for his resignation, with Simon Busuttil demanding his resignation when he claimed that he was not arraigning the former European commissioner John Dalli on bribery charges relat- ed to an OLAF investigation, on "in- terference" by the prime minister. Busuttil is facing a breach of privi- lege complaint in the House of Rep- resentatives over his claim. "All issues tied to Zammit as chief of police finished when he no longer remained in that position," Muscat said, defending the work being car- ried out by Zammit as national se- curity coordinator. Asked whether his position was tenable, Muscat said Zammit's pre- vious and current roles were not related. Pressed to say whether he trusted Zammit's judgement, Mus- cat said that the information he re- ceived was that Zammit was doing a good job. "You mistrust a person when you know that he's not doing his job properly. The information I have is that he is doing a good job. If I didn't trust him, he wouldn't be there. He is there because he is proving him- self. When we needed to take deci- sions, the decisions were taken. I know how to take decisions," Mus- cat said. Zabbar inquiry An inquiry found that Zammit had personally intervened to drop charges against a former client of his who had acted violently in the Zabbar police station. Zammit was a legal procurator, and a former police superintendent, before his appointment by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat as Com- missioner of Police after Labour's election in March 2013. The report clearly shows that police officers were instructed by Zammit not to press charges against Josmar Agius, and that the inquiry board found claims by the former police head to be untrue or at best, economical. The board of inquiry found that Zammit's decision not to press charges, claiming that the accusa- tion was unjust, was arbitrary and that he failed to explain the rea- soning behind his decision to drop charges. Sergeant Keith Mallan told the board – chaired by Judge emeritus Francesco Depasquale, and civil servants Martin Bugelli and Stepha- ni Pappalardo – that on 9 June 2013, Josmar Agius entered the police sta- tion, angry at the way his daughter's report on a stolen mobile phone had been handled. Agius refused to wait in a queue, entered behind the police desk, slammed the mobile phone box on the desk and shouted that he would report them to "Peter Paul" and an- other high-ranking police officer, whom he referred to by his nick- name. On his part, Zammit admitted that Agius was a former client of his and that he had taken a personal in- terest in the case and examined the report the day after it was filed. He confirmed that he told human resources officer Inspector Marisa Zammit to "do nothing at the mo- ment, and then we'll see later". When asked, he said that the sergeant's re- port held no basis to charge Agius. When asked why he had taken so long to order the cancellation of the case, Zammit said that he needed time to examine the file. He confirmed that no investiga- tion was carried out and that no witnesses were heard "because he didn't think it was required". The board of inquiry argued that if the case had been as clear as Zammit had alleged, not requir- ing the testimony of any witnesses, then he should not have taken so long to reach a final decision or tell journalists that it was a "delicate case". The board said it could not un- derstand why Zammit ignored all advice from several officers, in- cluding a Superintendent. "Although Zammit told us that he had taken this decision because he had felt that the accusation was unjust, there was no investigation, advice or procedure that led him to this decision," the board's report read. In a reaction, the Nationalist Par- ty said that the people are now pay- ing for Muscat's mistakes. "Muscat chose an untrustwor- thy power abuser to lead the po- lice force and is now defending his choice," PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami and shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi said in a joint statement. "It's not true that Peter Paul Zammit resigned as Po- lice Commissioner because of the inquiry. He resigned as Commis- sioner before he even testified in the inquiry and a month before its conclusions were published." Dalli files police complaint over Independent report on $600,000 scam MATTHEW VELLA FORMER European Commissioner John Dalli has filed a criminal com- plaint for defamation against Stand- ard Publications, which published details of a report made to the FBI and his alleged involvement in a €600,000 scam. Dalli, who resigned the EC in 2012 over allegations that he was aware of a €60 million bribe to reverse a re- tail ban on smokeless tobacco, said the newspaper's report was replete with "innuendoes, false allegations and attempts at linking pieces of information that are disconnected" creating the impression that he set out to defraud a group of American nationals. "I declare that I do not have any- thing to do with any transfer of money between people. I have nev- er solicited investment and never managed investments," Dalli said. Dalli accused the alleged whistle- blowers of harassing his daughter with statements that they had made a report to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the FBI, Interpol, the US Senate, the European Central Bank, OLAF and the Maltese police. "They made specific threats with full knowledge that my family and I had nothing to do with this affair and knowing how the media have been trying to crucify me, they would use the media to vilify me if their demands are not met post haste. "They were trying to take ad- vantage of the damage that media slander campaigns would cause to a person in my position, and this in an attempt to extort money from my family and myself. Correspond- ence can be supplied," he said in his complaint to the Maltese police. Dalli has asked for an investiga- tion by the Maltese police into what he dubbed 'a conspiracy for extor- tion and blackmail', against Michael Brady of South Carolina and Regina Hayes, who have commented on the story and made various allega- tions, against Malta Independent journalist Jacob Borg, and Standard Publications' directors Noel Azzop- ardi, David Bartoli, Malcolm Miller, Pierre Portelli and Joseph Said. Dalli said it had "become obvious that over the past weeks they have been in contact with journalists of the publications of Standard Pub- lications Limited and of bloggers associated with them to exert pres- sure on my family and me. These journalists and bloggers have been campaigning against me for years. " In a reaction, newspaper director Pierre Portelli said The Malta Inde- pendent categorically denied Dalli's serious allegations that the editorial team "was involved in a conspiracy for extortion and blackmail." "This media house is proud of its editorial team and their efforts to report in an independent and unbi- ased manner. The Malta Independ- ent can easily prove to have given Dalli ample editorial space to ex- plain and reply to allegations made in his regard by different local and foreign persons and/or institutions over the past decade. The Malta In- dependent will give full cooperation to police in their investigations." Malta Independent report On Sunday, the Malta Independ- ent claimed that eight American investors who have allegedly been swindled out of $600,000 wired their money to an account owned by Corporate Group, a company op- erated by Dalli's two daughters, only to find out they had been "duped." One of the investors also said that she was led to believe that Tyre Lim- ited was involved because the wife of Tyre Limited's new director signed one of the payments. Tyre Limited made the headlines in 2012 after it was revealed to have financed the rental of a villa for John Dalli in the Bahamas. The company's secretary was Claire Gauci Borda, daughter of the former EU Commissioner. Peter Paul Zammit, instructed police officers not to press charges