[WATCH] PN insist police force is in ‘crisis’, ‘people’s trust is completely lost’

PN demands Ray Zammit's resignation

The Police Force is in “crisis” and “the repeated political interference” has delivered the last blow to the people’s trust in the institution, the Nationalist Opposition has said.

Addressing a press conference at the PN headquarters, deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami and shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi insisted that the findings of an inquiry by Judge Michael Mallia carry “political consequences”.

“It is evident that the Gaffarena and Zammit families always get what they want from this government. There are dangerous ties between police officers and ‘dubious’ characters,” Fenech Adami said, quoting Mallia’s description of Paceville entrepreneur Hugo Chetcuti.

The PN lambasted government for its “silence” over the report.

The Office of the Prime Minister yesterday published the findings of an inquiry into the unethical behaviour of Zammit’s family of police officers who had business interests with the Gaffarena family. Ray Zammit’s son Daniel Zammit acted as prosecuting officer on murder charges against Joe Gaffarena’s son-in-law.

In a brief reaction, the government said it would be implementing the required reforms.
"The Opposition should keep in mind that the cases happened under the PN administration," it said.

The murder case goes back to 2008; the court case is still pending; and, in 2011, a permit was issued allowing the house on Drama Street – where the murder took place – to be pulled down and a block of apartments was built in its place.

Three months after the 2013 general election, brothers Daniel and Roderick Zammit were posted to the Economic Crimes Unit. A year later, Daniel was boarded out whilst Roderick was transferred to the Hamrun district.

Despite the whole saga and the business interests that unfolded under the previous administration and transfers received under the present administration, the Opposition is insisting that responsibility should now be shouldered by the present administration.

Asked by MaltaToday whether the apparent rot within the Police Force deserved the issue to be tackled on a bipartisan level – as opposed to trying to score political points – Fenech Adami insisted that the Corps was “in a crisis”.

“We are in opposition and we are ready to seriously cooperate with the government but we need transparency and it is the government’s duty and obligation to see concrete actions … a government which at least projects the idea that is not held hostage by a few people,” he said.

Fenech Adami lauded the Michael Mallia inquiry as “a very good job”. He said, that during his time as parliamentary secretary, he was not aware of Daniel Zammit’s business interests and how a permit was issued for the demolition of the scene-of-crime home.

“It is no coincidence that the Gaffarenas and the Zammits have been involved in several scandals during the past two years,” the MPs said. “It is even less of a coincidence that Joseph Muscat’s government always supported them through these scandals.”

Fenech Adami and Azzopardi challenged Muscat to answer why Daniel Zammit and his brother Roderick were both transferred to the Economic Crimes Unit on 10 June 2013, and why Ray Zammit was made CEO of the warden agency after he was removed as acting police commissioner following his role in the shooting controversy involving the driver of former home affairs minister Manuel Mallia.

They also questioned why Daniel Zammit was boarded out of the police force in a record four days and why he was subsequently granted a €60,000 a year job within Enemalta. Zammit was then removed by the Minister for the Energy.