Acting Police Commissioner fined for contempt of court

Acting Police Commissioner Ray Zammit was fined €300 this afternoon after a magistrate found him guilty of contempt of court.

Zammit failed to notify the accused for a sitting in a libel case involving Felix Agius, the former editor of Labour party newspaper Kullhadd, constraining the court to postpone handing down judgment for the fifth time.

Pronouncing Zammit guilty of contempt of court, a visibly angry Magistrate Francesco Depasquale said the delivery of the judgment had been postponed for at least five sittings due to the absence of one of the parties.

The magistrate deplored the no-shows as "attempts to tamper with the justice system".

"The court finds this interference unacceptable and deplores the behaviour of the acting Police Commissioner and the accused,” the magistrate said.

Depasquale observed that the libel case, involving former EU Representative to Brussels Richard Cachia Caruana, has been ongoing for 13 years and that the court could not deliver its judgment because of the Acting Police Commissioner's antics.

Aside from fining Zammit for contempt of court, the magistrate ordered him to ensure he notifies all parties for the next sitting.

He also ordered that the Home Affairs Minister be notified.