Update 2 | Ray Zammit new police commissioner, Peter Paul Zammit is national security coordinator

Deputy commissioner Ray Zammit has been confirmed as Malta's acting Commissioner of Police, pending a reorganisation of the police corps.

In a statement issued at 6:50pm, the home affairs ministry confirmed that Zammit will be appointed commissioner, while Peter Paul Zammit will be posted in an administrative role to coordinate national security during forthcoming international events.

A ministerial statement will be made in parliament on Wednesday, 9 July.

The decision to move Zammit out of his police chief's role, just over a year since his appointment in 2013, comes just days after MaltaToday reported that Zammit was being earmarked for a new posting.

PN reaction

In a statement, the PN refuted the suggestion that Peter Paul Zammit was being moved into a new posting. "After the publication of the OLAF letter and Giovanni Kessler's declarations that the Commissioner had refused to cooperate with OLAF in breach of EU law, the Commissioner has now resigned."

Shadow home affairs minister Jason Azzopardi said that the responsibility should not have been borne by Zammit alone, but also by the Prime Minister, for having personally appointed him as Commissioner.

"We salute Ray Zammit on his appointment as acting commissioner, and we augur that he will stand up to any political interference that his predecessor did not withstand," Azzopardi said.

"The PN hopes that Ray Zammit will honour government pledges to address rising criminality, that police officers are taxed differently on their extra duty, that millions in overtime arrears are paid, and that police stations in small villages are not closed down," Azzopardi said.

Peter Paul Zammit under pressure

Rumours of an impending resignation had already been denied by Zammit, 52, appointed to replace John Rizzo after Labour’s election in 2013.

The Nationalist Party is a major critic of Zammit, who served as a police inspector and superintendent for 25 years before pursuing a career as a legal procurator.

In the same week of Zammit's new posting, his office has been dogged by allegations from the EU's anti-fraud director-general Giovanni Kessler, that the Commissioner of Police had not cooperated on three requests by OLAF to assist in an investigation concerning former European Commissioner John Dalli.

More recently, a decision not to press charges against a Zejtun man who assaulted police officers in a police station, saw the home affairs ministry launch an ‘inter-ministerial’ inquiry into the matter. Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia said he was taking the matter “very seriously”, in a statement.

He was targeted by the Opposition from the very first day, with Simon Busuttil demanding his resignation when he claimed that he was not arraigning the former European commissioner John Dalli on bribery charges related to an OLAF investigation, on “interference” by the prime minister. Busuttil is facing a breach of privilege complaint in the House of Representatives over his claim.

Zammit improved the corps’ media relations, previously strained under the media, with regular crime conferences; and he set up the highly trained Rapid Intervention Unit.

Although he declared that John Dalli, with its strong political overtones, was to face no charges of alleged bribery over the Swedish Match allegations, Zammit has never officially declared the case closed.

“His management, and style of decision-making, have failed to impress. The home affairs ministry especially, are more concerned by the way he takes decisions when it comes to deal with situations, rather than the Opposition’s criticism,” MaltaToday’s source said.

“The Opposition knows Zammit is not politically motivated in his work. They attack him for the sake of attacking him and to undermine the police force.”

Ray Zammit

Ray Zammit joined the police force on February 21, 1976 and served in the Mobile Squad, the Districts and the SAG.

On September 13, 2000 he was promoted to Superintendent and was transferred to the Police Academy as Deputy Commandant for three years. From there he moved to the Traffic Section up until 2009, when he was promoted to Assistant Commissioner responsible for Region ‘B’ - the northern part of Malta, including Gozo.

Like Pierre Calleja he was made Deputy Commissioner on 27 January. He is still responsible for Region ‘B’ and for the past 10 months he has also been Acting Director of the Corradino Prison.

Ray Zammit, known by all, aptly or not, as “il-Mulej” (the lord), has two sons, Daniel and Roderick, who are also in the police force. They are both inspectors.

Zammit was in 1985 one of the members of the force who took an active part in the security operation during the bloody Egypt Air hijacking in Malta.

DC Zammit has published three books about the police. “Meta Jibki l-Korp” came out in 2004, and the English version “Tribute to our Heroes” in 2005. Both are about the members of the Force who died in the line of duty or while still as police officers. The third book has the title of “Ġiġa Ħamsin sena wara 1960-2010: the crime of the century”, telling the notorious story of the mother, Ġiġa Camilleri, who was found guilty of murdering her son.