Government to seek clarifications from OLAF

The Maltese government will be communicating with the EU anti-fraud office OLAF to see how the Police Commissioner failed to cooperate with OLAF in its investigations on the John Dalli case.

Addressing parliament, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said the government will be seeking details on when OLAF communicated with the Police Commissioner and what information was requested.

Bonnici's declaration in parliament was concurrently supported by a statement issued by the government.

"The government believes in the independence of the Police Corps and does not interfere with the decisions taken by the police," the government said.

The head of the EU’s anti-fraud office said that on three separate occasions – 22 October 2013, 31 March 2014 and 6 May 2014 – OLAF requested Zammit to collaborate on a new OLAF investigation concerning Dalli.

“To this date, and despite the reminders, OLAF has not received any answer by Zammit,” Kessler said.

The Police Commissioner is insisting only one request was made by OLAF and that same request did not conform to local procedure.

In parliament, the Minister for Justice defended the works of the Police Force after the Leader of the Opposition took Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit to task over his work.

Bonnici said that while it was important for the Opposition to scrutinise government’s work, it should not embark on campaigns to undermine important institutions such as the Police Corps.

“I urge the leader of the Opposition to stop with its attempts to undermine the citizens’ trust in the Police Force. In the national interest, certain red lines should not be crossed,” Bonnici said.

The minister insisted that it was the executive police that decided on how and when to proceed with cases. “That is the police’s discretion and the government doesn’t interfere. It is the police that decides whether to proceed against a person or not.”