Updated | Accusations of data retention breach ‘legally unfounded’ – Police Commissioner

The police force said a request by Commissioner of Police Peter Paul Zammit for a call profile of telephone calls and SMSes was well within the legal parameters of an investigation into the alleged corruption of a witness.

In a statement, the police said that the allegation that a police officer had attempted to corrupt a witness in the Police Board's inquiry into the prosecution of Daryl Borg - as confirmed in an affidavit by Borg's mother Jane Borg - meant that this was a "serious crime" as defined in data retention rules.

"This justifies a request by police for a so called call profile, specifically emanating from Article 355AD(4) of the Criminal Code as well data retention rules in L.N. 198/08, and is confirmity with EU directives.

"A call or SMS profile refers to a list of telephone calls or messages that took place within a maximum of one year, including times and duration, but not what is said or written in this communication: this data is itself not provided by service providers. Call profiles are obatined only for investigative purposes, and not for public consumption except when produced inside a courtroom as evidence."

Accusations put forward by the Opposition that the police commissioner had breached data retention rules, were "legally unfounded", Peter Paul Zammit has told MaltaToday.

Yesterday the Commissioner of Police refused allegations that he had requested telephone logs from telecoms providers, in breach of data retention rules that specify such requests to be made for crimes carrying prison terms of over 12 months.

Zammit said he consulted logs showing there was no contact between home affairs ministry chief of staff Silvio Scerri and former convict Charles Attard 'iz-Zambi', over an attempt to bring forward Daryl Luke Zammit to testify before the Police Board in an inquiry over the latter's wrongful prosecution on charges of a hold-up.

Peter Paul Zammit yesterday also declared that at least one person involved in the case had come forward with his or her call logs.

Zammit insisted that police had adhered to the legal requirements in obtaining the mentioned logs.

Reacting to accusations levelled against him by Nationalist MPs Beppe Fenech Adami and Jason Azzopardi, Zammit insisted that these were "legally unfounded".

"Their accusations lack the objectivity of the full facts of the case," he said.

Zaammit said that in all cases known to him where the call logs were obtained, the police "adhered to the legal requirements", and that service providers "always provided the call profiles" when a request would be made by the police.

Both Beppe Fenech Adami and Jason Azzopardi also declared their trust in the police commissioner was "diminishing".

"It's only natural to lose trust in someone you haven't spoken to, although it is not in my domain to discuss my investigations with anyone who is not legally privileged to be a party to the investigations," Zammit said in reaction.

He also expressed his trust that staying out of the Police Board's investigations and attending to the investigation he is responsible for will eventually prove him right.