30-minute discussion on officers turned waiters, Mallia: ‘with hindsight I would have acted differently’

The half-hour discussion allocated for parliamentary questions was taken up by a series of questions - and dripping with sarcasm-  on police officers turned waiters during a banquet organised at by the home affairs ministry at the Prime Minister's countryside residence in Girgenti.

"I don't see anything wrong with what happened, but if there would be another request I would take a different decision," Mallia said this evening in parliament.

At this point, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil interjected and asked whether Mallia was admitting a mistake.

"I never said I took the wrong decision and it is the orchestration of your party media who believes so. All I'm saying is that with hindsight, if there would be a similar request I would act differently," Mallia replied.

The minister insisted that he was not aware of the decision to have some officers cooking and serving as waiters until the last minute.

"I can assure you that as a minister I have loads of work to do, much more than asking police officers to serve as waiters," Mallia said, adding that even ITS students served as waiters and all the staff were paid by the ministry.

He admitted he had never been aware that the Police Force had their own kitchen and only came to know about this when the Police Commissioner organised a lunch for members of the media.

At one point, the home affairs minister took umbrage at a news report carried by the Net: "They interviewed people who stated they loved their country and didn't want to do any harm... question mark, question mark."

He also insisted that what he found "strange" was the "orchestration carried out by the Opposition and a certain newspaper".

Asked whether he could give a breakdown of the salaries paid to the officers, Mallia asked the Opposition to table a PQ. "Obviously, I can't remember all these figures," he said.

Opposition whip David Agius also requested a point of order when Mallia said that "probably" Busuttil had received footage of the banquet.

The bickering went on as Agius asked Mallia to withdraw statements that his party leader had received this footage. But Mallia said he used the word "probably" and had nothing to withdraw.

The minister also turned tables on Agius when he pointed out that, while serving in the office of former minister Louis Galea, a dinner had been served at St Vincent de Paul Residence. According to Mallia, SVPR staff members were used and the event had nothing to do with ministerial work.

Asked by Busuttil how did members of the EBU delegation feel when they discovered they had been served by officers, Mallia retorted "they felt the same like when there was the SVPR dinner".

"I'm sure they had a fantastic night. All those present had fun and the service was excellent," Mallia said.

Mallia also fielded questions by his shadow minister, Jason Azzopardi, on why the CCF acting director was carrying out structural work in his office "of certain luxury" which included the installment of marble.

Mallia assured Azzopardi they were "on the same wavelength" and that he himself had inquired about the refurbishment. Mallia was told that the marble was already at the prisons and no cost was therefore incurred.

At one point, Mallia said that the chairwoman of the Offender Assessment Board was the same one appointed by the PN administration, to which Azzopardi replied that he was "glad" the same person was being reappointed, "especially since she doesn't even know".

Taking umbrage at his comment, Mallia retorted that for a year and a half, nothing was done on the prisoners' parole and that there was a white paper which had been pending for two years and a half.