Hunter who bribed police evaded security checks, and obtained private guard licence

MaltaToday has established that Eric Scicluna, 38 of Mtarfa, was able to obtain a private guard’s licence issued by the Commissioner of Police, after his criminal record was ignored inside the police department.

Last February, Scicluna was listed by the Police Commissioner as an applicant for a private guard’s license, on the Government Gazette. As is regular practice, the notice – published in accordance with the Private Guards and Local Wardens Act – calls on the general public to come forward with objections to the issuance of a license, if the applicants were convicted of any crime“against the safety of the state, or of any crime of voluntary harm or injury to any person or any crime against property or public trust or any other serious crime amongst others.”

But Scicluna, who is currently a security officer assigned to banks and Mater Dei hospital, has had a string of convictions by the Magistrates Court that include attempted bribery of a public officer in 2005, and grievous bodily harm on four persons at sea in August 2009.

Despite these convictions, no red flags were raised when the Commissioner of Police issued the licence to Scicluna.

This new revelation confirms that no security checks were carried out on Scicluna’s application inside the police force, or his prior convictions were ignored during processing.

Scicluna’s convictions were even accessible through a simple Google search of his name.

He even wore his uniform when summoned to the police headquarters in Floriana, for interrogation by Inspector Alex Miruzzi from the Administrative Law Enforcement Unit, the same officer who led the prosecution against Scicluna in 2006 for the attempted bribery of a public officer and possession of protected birds of prey.

The case continues to open a can of worms inside the police force as the ALE has come under investigation, after Eric Scicluna revealed that some officers were ‘on the take’.

Senior police sources said PC Kenneth Sevasta has been suspended from duty pending further investigations, while another has been ‘temporarily’ transferred to a police station, and a sergeant within the same unit has been ordered to undertake clerical work.

The case was reportedly revealed last April when a hunter was intercepted by BirdLife Malta activists while hunting illegally in Mtarfa.

Eric Scicluna was photographed and appeared in the media when he was spotted by passers-by and subsequently arrested and interrogated by Inspector Alex Miruzzi.

When cautioned during interrogation, Scicluna reportedly asked to see Police Commissioner John Rizzo and told him that he paid officers to keep him informed on any possible raids in the Mtarfa area.