A link between the filing of charges against Sliema deputy mayor Cyrus Engerer and his resignation from the Nationalist Party cannot be ruled out, an inquiry judge has concluded, although he found no evidence of irregularity in the police action.

Judge Albert Manche’ has also found that the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Edgar Galea Curmi, did not try to influence the police when he phoned the Commissioner of Police to ask about the arrest of Chris Engerer, Cyrus Engerer’s father, in a drug investigation.

Furthermore, Judge Manché upheld the right of The Times to report that the charges had been filed, stating that in a democratic society freedom of information came before any attempts to keep court proceedings secret, particularly when they involved a politician.

The inquiry, ordered by the government, delved into the way the police handled the two separate criminal cases involving Chris and Cyrus Engerer, the first connected to drugs and the second over the keeping and/or circulating pornography and of computer misuse.

The Labour Party had claimed the two were being victimised due to Cyrus Engerer’s defection to Labour and accused Mr Galea Curmi of interference when he made the phone call to the Police Commissioner. Judge Manché was tasked with looking into allegations of abuse of power, negligence or undue pressure, spanning all the facts of the case.

With regard to the police action taken against Cyrus Engerer and charges presented in court, Judge Manche’ observed that on January 10, 2010, Marvic Camilleri, Cyrus Engerer’s former partner, alleged to the police that he suspected Mr Engerer had stolen compromising pictures from his computer and was distributing them to various people, including his employer.

The Cyber Crime Unit concluded its investigation on March 7, 2010, having established how the pictures were transmitted from Mr Engerer’s former residence. The police could not immediately question Mr Engerer because he was abroad. Mr Camilleri eventually told the police that he had lost interest in the case but never formally withdrew his complaint.

The police questioned Cyrus Engerer on June 23, 2011. On July 9, during the Gay Pride parade, he told an inspector to expedite his case. On July 15 he resigned from the PN and subsequently joined the PL.

On July 25 the police filed charges against Mr Engerer in court which included computer misuse and the distribution of pornography.

The Times reported the charges on the following day.

Judge Manche said that on completion of their investigations in March, the police could have instituted court proceedings against Mr Engerer. It was true that Mr Camilleri had wanted to withdraw his police report and that the police could not contact Mr Engerer. But the board was not convinced that the police showed any particular eagerness to do so, especially when means of communications were very easy these days.

After considerable delay, the charges were filed 10 days after Engerer resigned from the PN and joined the PL.

“Inevitably, one has to conclude that the police dragged their feet before July 15, 2011 and hurried in their proceedings against Cyrus Engerer afterwards, and that Cyrus Engerer’s resignation was the reason why the police hurried in their filing of the charges after so many delays,” the judge said.

He noted, however, that the police denied any connection between the resignation and the filing of charges, blaming the delay on Mr Camilleri’s loss of interest and the fact that Mr Engerer was abroad.

“Still, it is the Board’s view that the delay in the filing of the charges was not justified. Nor can it be reasonably excluded that the filing of the charges, only 10 days after the resignation from the PN, was linked to the resignation,” Judge Manche concluded.

However, he found no evidence of irregularity, since “the police had sufficient basis to proceed against Cyrus Engerer and it cannot be said that the police acted wrongly when the charges were filed”.

In the case of the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, the judge noted that Mr Galea Curmi had told the Commissioner of Police that Chris Engerer’s lawyer had said he expected such police action following Cyrus Engerer’s defection.

Mr Galea Curmi asked the Commissioner if he could speak to the lawyer to assure him that the arrest was not politically motivated.

The Commissioner requested a report from his subordinates but decided against speaking to the lawyer because it was not the role of the police to give explanations to defence counsel.

Judge Manche’ said he agreed with the Commissioner’s decision, because the duty of the police was to present its case and evidence in court and not to lawyers.

Furthermore, when there were allegations of abuse of power by the police, these too needed to be investigated.

As for the report in The Times, Judge Manche said the inquiry could not establish who had leaked the charges and the law protected journalists from revealing their sources.

The journalist had not disobeyed any court order. Nor did it appear that the publication of the report was unjustified, especially since it was a basic principle in democratic society that freedom of information came before any attempts to keep court proceedings secret, more so when the person involved was a politician.