Opposition calls for immediate publication of two police inquiries

PN deputy leader Mario de Marco and MP Jason Azzopardi presented a parliamentary motion that calls on home affairs minister Manuel Mallia to immediately publish the results of two internal inquiries.

Recently, Mallia had announced that the conclusions of two police inquiries, one over the wrongful prosecution of 27-year-old Darryl Luke Borg and another on former commissioner Peter Paul Zammit would only be published once they are evaluated.

Explaining that on 3 September 2013, the Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit had promised to publish the inquiry results of the first case, and on 28 June 2014, Mallia himself said that the results of the second inquiry will be published, Azzopardi said "people have a right to know the truth."

He accused Mallia of coming up with excuses, such as being on holiday, so as not to publish these inquiry results and of insulting people's intelligence.

"Joseph Muscat had promised the most transparent government that Malta has ever seen," Azzopardi said.

Upon receiving the motion, Speaker Anglu Farrugia told the two Opposition MPs that their motion deserves a parliamentary debate.

The first inquiry, compiled by judge emeritus Franco Depasquale, was delivered to the home affairs minister Manuel Mallia and former Commissioner of Police Peter Paul Zammit in August 2013.

The inquiry had led to criticism by the Nationalist Party, calling for the resignation of the police commissioner as well as that of Mallia's chief of staff, Silvio Scerri, for having allegedly communicated with a former criminal convict - Charles Attard 'iz-Zambi' - in a bid to bring Borg to testify before the board.

The second inquiry was concluded in July following Zammit’s decision to drop charges against a man who allegedly assaulted four officers in Zabbar.