Public was misled on disciplinary steps against Nwokoye officers

Government claims in 2011 that it was considering disciplinary action against the custodians of Nigerian asylum seeker Ifeanyi Nwokoye, who died after escaping from detention in Safi, misled the public because home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici had already directed the Detention Services commander not to take any action.

According to the testimony of the former DSU commander Lt Col. Brian Gatt, this time to the 2012 inquiry by judge Geoffrey Valenzia into the death of Malian national Mamadou Kamara, Mifsud Bonnici “gave him a directive to leave things as they were due an ongoing police investigation” and not to take any disciplinary steps against the DS officers in whose custody Nwokoye died.

Former army officers who were aware of Gatt’s decision to take steps against Bombardier Carmela Camilleri, Lt Roderick Azzopardi, Bdr Aldo Simiana, and two other officers, said that the DS commander was determined to take disciplinary action soon after the death of Nwokoye.

 “Gatt told the 2011 inquiry led by Martin Scicluna that he had recommended that disciplinary steps be taken when he established that there had been negligence on the part of the officers responsible for the escape of Nwokoye,” the sources said.

On 13 October 2011 – two months after the Scicluna inquiry into the Nwokoye death was submitted to the government – the home affairs ministry issued a statement to the public saying that it was taking on board the seven recommendations from the inquiry.

The report was never published due to the ongoing magisterial inquiry; it remains unpublished to this day, despite Prime Minister Joseph Muscat having published the 2012 Valenzia report into the death of Mamadou Kamara.

But at the time of the government statement, the home affairs minister had stated that “steps had already been taken” and that the ministry was considering taking “expeditious disciplinary steps without compromising ulterior proceedings that can result in the magisterial inquiry.”

The Kamara inquiry report revealed the two weights and two measures applied in the disciplinary steps against army personnel detailed to the Detention Services: while the DS officers responsible for the April 2011 escape were not disciplined, an AFM soldier who struck Nwokoye as he was being brought back to the detention centre, was disciplined, former army commander Brigadier Martin Xuereb had said.

Nwokoye was one of six asylum seekers who escaped from the Safi detention centre on the night of 16-17 April 2011.

“Immediately after the case happened, Brian Gatt wanted disciplinary steps to be taken,” the army sources told MaltaToday. “When they refused to make a statement he started proceedings to have them dismissed. Mifsud Bonnici then told him to wait for the outcome of the magisterial inquiry.”

Four months later on 26 August, the Scicluna inquiry presented its findings, and on 13 October 2011, the government published a statement on the report’s recommendations.

“The truth of the matter is laid out in further detail in what Gatt actually told the Scicluna inquiry board, but unless the 2011 report and its testimonies are published, the full extent of what happened cannot be revealed,” the army source said.

In parliament, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has said that Brian Gatt was told that no steps should be taken because the police were still investigating the matter, but as it turned out, neither Commissioner of Police John Rizzo nor AFM commander Martin Xuereb had been informed of the outcome of the Nwokoye inquiry, and no disciplinary steps were ever taken.

In a reaction to the report tabled in parliament, former home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici told parliament that he had ordered an inquiry into the death of the Nigerian migrant in 2011. “I had bound myself to publish the final report when the magisterial inquiry would be published. I have never covered up anything, never, never, never,” he said, adding that he had never instructed anybody not to carry out their duties.

He also has denied responsibility for the inquiry into the death of a Malian migrant in 2012. By then, Mifsud Bonnici was no longer a minister and the Armed Forces of Malta had been transferred to the Office of the Prime Minister.

Death of Ifeanyi Nwokoye

Ifeanyi Nwokoye died in suspicious circumstances and his body remained frozen in the morgue for over two years as the authorities considered what action to take following the conclusion of a magisterial inquiry.

Nwokoye, 29, died in hospital soon after he was recaptured following an escape from the Safi detention centre with six other migrants on April 16, 2011.

The escape and death prompted a magisterial inquiry as well as a Government-appointed independent inquiry headed by Martin Scicluna.

The Scicluna inquiry was said to have been refused access to Nwokoye’s autopsy, so it was unable to conclude whether the blows were excessive and had caused his death.

It was only in February 2014 that two DS officers were charged with the murder of Nwokoye.

A funeral planned for Nwokoye in April 2013 had to be postponed at the last minute when it became clear to his family that the Maltese authorities could be held responsible for the man’s death. He was finally buried in May 2013.

In the case of Malian migrant Mamadou Kamara, who had escaped detention while still not having undergone his asylum claim’s assessment, he was arrested months later while availing himself of medical care at the Floriana polyclinic.

Two soldiers have been charged with Kamara’s murder. A third soldier was accused of tampering with evidence.

23 December 2014: CARM MIFSUD BONNICI writes

With reference to the articles entitled “Public was misled on disciplinary steps against Nwokye officers” and “My name is Ifeanyi and I am dead”, carried in the issue of “Maltatoday” of Sunday, 21st December 2014 on pages 1 and 21 respectively, you are requested to publish the following according to the Press Act and with the same prominence on your Sunday issue.

These are the facts related to this case which are not portrayed clearly in your articles but which I had already stated in Parliament just a few minutes after the Prime Minister’s speech but which perhaps escaped you:

1. On the 17th April 2011, following the death of Infeanyi Nwokye, the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs issued a press statement informing the public that:

a) an independent Board of Inquiry had been set up under Chapter 273 of the Laws of Malta; 

b) a Magisterial inquiry was being conducted so that the facts would be established and the evidence preserved, whilst;

c) a Police investigation was also underway.

2. The next day , another press statement published the letter of appointment of the Board setting out the terms of reference of the public inquiry which was to be led by Mr Martin Scicluna. (It would have been imprudent for Lt.Col. Brian Gatt to carry out the investigations since at the time he was the person in charge of the detention centres and the independent Board of Inquiry would also have to evaluate his position.)  

3. One of the Board’s remit was:

• examining and establishing whether there had been negligence, whether the correct procedures had been followed, whether there had been abuse of authority on the part of any official/s of the Detention Services or any other officers involved in this incident”[1]

4. On the 26th August 2011, the report of the independent  Board of Inquiry was submitted to the Ministry.  A press statement was subsequently issued on the 13th October 2011 when I resumed my duties in the ministry after under going major surgery at Mater Dei Hospital during September 2011.

5. The report stated that disciplinary action against a number of officials should be taken: “Hemm lok għal passi dixxiplinarji kontra numru ta’ uffiċjali li kienu b’xi mod involuti fl-incident, għalkemm f’xi każi l-azzjoni ma tistax tittiehed qabel ma jkun magħruf l-eżitu tal-awtopsja tad-detenut li miet.”

The Board of Inquiry also stated that since the Magisterial inquiry had not been concluded and the result of the autopsy was not accessible to them, the report could not be conclusive on all points. The Times of Malta reported this on the following day in an item entitled “Board calls for officials to face discipline” where it is stated: “An Inquiry Board that probed the death of an illegal immigrant who was caught after escaping from the Safi Detention Centre last April, has called for disciplinary measures to be taken against a number of officials involved in the incident. But in “some cases” the action against officials cannot be taken until the autopsy results are released by the magisterial inquiry.”

6. As also stated in the press statement this report was passed on to both the  Commander of the Detention Services Lt Col Brian Gatt and  the Commander of the Armed Forces of Malta, Martin Xuereb wherein  it was stated that: “L-awtoritajiet konċernati qed jikkonsidraw fid-dettal il-kummenti tal-Bord biex, fejn hemm lok jittieħdu passi dixxiplinari b’mod spedit mingħajr ma jiġu kompromessi proċeduri ulterjuri li jistgħu jirriżultaw mill-inkjesta Maġisterjali”.

One must here bear in mind that there is a strong legal opinion that if both disciplinary procedures and court criminal procedures are taken this could amount to double jeopardy which could result in the acquittal of the guilty party. Thus one had to make sure that criminal legal action could effectively be taken after the conclusion of the Magisterial inquiry. If disciplinary action had been taken prematurely after the publication of the report it could have jeopardized the criminal procedure.

7. So contrary to what both your articles are implying, I did not impede any action on the matter. The investigation on the death of Infeanyi Nyowke was entrusted to the competent authorities to be carried out according to law, with the ensuing legal and disciplinary actions.

8. Unfortunately, the Magisterial inquiry led by Mag. Tonio Micallef Trigona took three years to be concluded and criminal action could finally be instituted against three persons according to the direction and instruction of the magisterial inquiry this February 2014.

9.   Please note that the Valenzia report as it is being referred to in the media was commissioned after the death of immigrant Mamadou Kamara who died on the 29th June 2012 when I was no longer a minister and the immigration portfolio had then passed to the office of the Prime Minister.

10. Please also note that the Armed Forces of Malta were never part of my ministerial portfolio as you seem to imply.

All the above may be easily verified by your readers and journalists by accessing the DOI and Times of Malta websites.

I had imagined that people had already formed the opinion that the allegations made against me were bereft of any substance. In fact, no interest whatever was even alleged, let alone proven in a possible cover up for any person at all.

Finally if sticking to what is right, proper and according to the Rule of Law is considered by you as a sign of weakness, then our standards are completely different. You mentioned my being a religious person: I do not disown my beliefs and try to act according to the ethics of these beliefs. Furthermore I do not see any strength in proving a point by attacking the conduct of others.

I am also reserving all my rights at law.

Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici M.P.

Xghajra