Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/780138
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 1 FEBRUARY 2017 4 PAUL COCKS THE Labour government had changed the police commission- er five times in less than four years until it found the puppet that was currently serving as commissioner, who only did the government's bidding, opposi- tion leader Simon Busuttil said yesterday. "The police commissioner's failure to act in blatant cases of abuse and corruption is proof that he is the government's pup- pet," he said. "But in the face of all the scandals, the police were more interested in the fuel gauge needle on the car of the leader of the opposition." "No wonder you went through five police commissioners, you kept looking until you found the right puppet you could control," he accused the government. Busuttil was speaking in Par- liament on the second reading of a bill proposing amendments to the Police Act. He said this bill could have come at the perfect time to make some much-needed changes, but instead the bill would make mat- ters worse, effectively establish- ing the police commissioner as a lackey of the Prime Minister. "We, on the other hand, do things differently because we have the courage to make chang- es," Busuttil said. The opposition leader said current commissioner Lawrence Cutajar's only claim to fame was to have publicly stated on Fa- cebook how much he loved the Prime Minister. "How can we trust that the ju- diciary power of the police – to open and lead investigations – is not corrupt?" he asked. "But wait, things are now about to get worse." Busuttil said that under the current system, the Prime Min- ister appointed the police com- missioner indefinitely, whereas the bill was proposing that the commissioner be appointed for a period of five years. "This will surely make the police commissioner a lackey of the Prime Minister, with a sword hanging constantly over his neck," he said. He also criticised the fact that the opposition had not been con- sulted before the bill was drawn up. He accused the government of wanting to turn the Police Force into another Labour Party club, at the very moment that the country was facing a crisis with the increasing number of car bombs, which the police was so far failing to solve. "There is a spate of thefts going on in many localities, numerous cases of serious corruption un- der this government, but the po- lice spend months investigating how much petrol my driver put in the car," Busuttil said. The police, he said, would not investigate the owners of the company Egrant, registered in Panama, nor did it investigate Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister's chief of staff, who were discovered to have opened secret accounts in Pan- ama. In a similar case in France, the police had investigated Minis- ter Jerome Cahuzac, who was revealed to have secret offshore accounts, and had just recently secured a three-year jail term for him in the French courts. "But the police commissioner in France is independent and not an admirer of the prime minister," Busuttil noted. "Who are the police defend- ing? Are they defending the man on the street and the citizens, or are they defending Joseph Muscat, his ministers and his friends?" he asked. News MIRIAM DALLI PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat has called the US President's decision to ban entry of those f leeing war-torn Syr- ia, among others, as "heav y-handed ". "The Prime Minister and the Mal- tese government clearly disagree with discrimination based on origin or reli- gion," the Office of the Prime Minister said. In a press statement issued yesterday, the opposition said Muscat had a duty, both as Prime Minister and as chair of the Presidency of the European Coun- cil, to take a stand on the matter. In a reaction, the Office of the Prime Minister said the opposition "should stop trying to politicise everything, especially when its leader was present when the Prime Minister made his po- sition in public". The OPM was referring to comments delivered by Muscat during a Brexit discussion organised by the Chamber of Commerce. Muscat said: "[Brexit on its own is one thing.] Adding to it the decisions that the new US administration is taking, some of which we clearly disagree with since they are heav y handed..." The OPM insisted that this was a clear reference to the US President's refugee- related decisions, "which surely did not go by unnoticed by the audience". The statement comes ahead of the Malta Summit on Friday, during which the 28 leaders of the EU will gather in Malta to discuss migration and the fu- ture of the European Union. In his invitation letter to the heads of state and government, European Coun- cil President Donald Tusk said Europe was now facing "external threats", in- cluding "the worrying declarations by the new American administration [which makes] our future highly unpre- dictable". "For the first time in our history, in an increasingly multipolar external world, so many are becoming openly anti-Eu- ropean, or Eurosceptic at best. Particu- larly the change in Washington puts the European Union in a difficult situation; with the new administration seeming to put into question the last 70 years of American foreign policy," Tusk said. Donald Trump's executive order sus- pended all refugee admissions to the US for 120 days, indefinitely barred entry to Syrian refugees, and banned entry to many immigrants and travellers for at least 90 days from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The PN said that President Trump's decision also raises serious concerns for Malta, which has long benefitted from the resettlement of refugees from Malta to the US. Since 2007, the US has accepted some 3,100 refugees from Malta under the US Resettlement Programme. In just two years, over 1,000 refugees started a new life in America. "The Prime Minister should explain if and how the recent Executive Order of President Trump will affect Malta and specifically whether the US will now stop accepting refugees who have been granted international protection in Malta," the PN said. In comments to the national broad- caster, US ambassador G. Kathleen Hill confirmed that the programme was suspended for four months and it remains unclear what will happen once the 120 days elapse. Joseph Muscat described Donald Trump's controversial travel ban as 'heavy-handed' Muscat calls Donald Trump's travel ban 'heavy-handed' Busuttil in scathing attack on 'puppet' police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar was appointed Police Commissioner in August 2016