A male army officer who harassed a woman with sexual photos taken on Armed Forces of Malta premises has not been disciplined despite the case being investigated by the police, Arnold Cassola has claimed.

The independent electoral candidate said AFM brigadier Jeffrey Curmi and attorney general Victoria Buttigieg were both aware of the case but have so far done nothing about it.

Cassola, who is running on districts 10 and 11, claimed that the Maltese AFM officer had also pestered his female victims with insistent text messages.

The victim had filed a police report and the police have since collected the victim’s phone, he said. The officer’s superior was informed, as were Curmi and Buttigieg. Yet nothing has been done, Cassola said.

“This is completely unacceptable. The victim has been left to feel helpless and without any hope of justice. Why has no action been taken against this  army officer?” he asked, musing whether the officer’s close affiliation to the Labour Party was behind the inaction,

“In the “Me too” era it is completely unacceptable that a press conference needs to be held so that action may possibly be taken,” Cassola said, arguing that the army and attorney general’s office were both “failing to make Maltese women feel safe.”

It is the second time during this electoral campaign that Cassola has flagged reports of sexual abuse within state entities.

In February, the independent candidate hand-delivered an open letter to the Office of the Prime Minister in which he alleged widespread abuse at Transport Malta, including a cover-up of sexual harassment involving a “hardcore Labour voter”.

Three days later, Transport Malta’s head of enforcement, Clint Axisa, was charged in court with committing non-consensual sexual acts with a female employee and sexually harassing her and another worker. He is pleading not guilty.