A police inspector targeted by a search and arrest warrant on the day when he ought to have been promoted to the rank of superintendent is suing the authorities over yet another act of "victimisation” in his regard. 

Elton Taliana has filed an action for damages, following his suspension after police received information that the inspector may have leaked details of an ongoing investigation into convicted fraudster Julian Hofstra to Yorgen Fenech’s defence lawyers. 

The Dutch national had recently been linked to alleged secret recordings in connection with the Daphne Caruana Galizia case.

Now, Taliana is claiming that, not only was he subjected to further “victimisation,” but that this latest move was likely intended to halt the drug trafficking investigation that he was handling and which was pointing to the possible involvement of a politically exposed person.

Taliana, who battled his way through various proceedings before the courts as well as the Public Service Commission, had finally earned his long-overdue promotion following an appeal judgment declaring that the officer had “a right to his third pip”.

That judgment, delivered last July, had also brought about the withdrawal of PSC disciplinary proceedings instituted against Taliana on the strength of a report by the Police Board to have him fired from the corps.

Those proceedings meant that since 2013, Taliana had been deprived of not only of his increments, but also of the third pip and hence, the final step to his promotion to superintendent.

Following the successful outcome of appeal proceedings last summer, the inspector was awarded that third pip, faced an interview for promotion and was due for appointment on January 15.

Yet, on that same date, Taliana was arrested, detained and interrogated, on the strength of an illegal warrant that neither stated the reason nor the crime in respect of which it had been issued. 

On the basis of that warrant, which clearly had not been drawn up “according to the procedure prescribed by law,” Taliana’s home was searched, personal possessions, including his mobile, seized, and his name recorded in the “detainee book”.

Now, the officer is claiming that his rights were breached by the effects of that warrant which ran counter to the provisions of the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.

In a constitutional application filed against the State Advocate and the Police Commissioner, Taliana stated he had committed no crime and that this latest move in his regard was nothing but another act of victimisation, the likes of which he has faced over the past eight years. 

For this reason, Taliana is requesting the court to declare that the search and arrest warrant was issued abusively in his regard, breaching his fundamental rights. Consequently, he is requesting all adequate remedies, including damages as well as having his name struck off the “detainee book”.

Lawyer Joe Zammit Maempel signed the application that was filed before the First Hall, Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction.