Jailed overtime racket sergeant was reinstated to police force earlier this year

Norman Xuereb, the police sergeant jailed for his key role in a police overtime racket, had been reinstated to the police force earlier this year.

On Monday, Xuereb was found guilty of fraud, among other offences, and jailed for five years.

Xuereb had been suspended from the police force at the time of his initial arrest. In 2024, Times of Malta revealed that he was given a job as a steward as part of a team patrolling Valletta’s streets to maintain order.

On Tuesday, a police spokesperson told Times of Malta that Xuereb had been reinstated as a fully-fledged police officer earlier this year.

“Upon a recommendation by the Public Service Commission, Mr Xuereb was earlier this year re-designated to his former grade within the Malta Police Force,” the spokesperson said.

“Following yesterday’s judgement, he was today suspended in line with the provisions of the Public Service Management Code,” the spokesperson added.

It is understood that Xuereb formed part of a Paceville police squad set to begin patrolling Paceville’s streets this summer.

Public Service Commission rules say that public officials facing disciplinary or criminal proceedings can be temporarily suspended on 80% pay.

However, the suspended official can file a request asking for the suspension to be lifted.

Officials who are in custody or serving a sentence forfeit their salary altogether, the rules say.

The ‘brains’ behind the racket

Xuereb was once described as the “brains” behind an overtime racket that shook the police force in early 2020.

The racket revolved around police officers falsely claiming overtime for shifts linked to the Marsa flyover project throughout 2018 and 2019. Dozens of police officers had been arrested in the probe.

Investigators argued that Xuereb was the key figure in the racket, meeting with Infrastructure Malta and Transport Malta to discuss payments. Court sittings later revealed that he had pocketed €53,000 through the scheme, with Xuereb telling investigators that he would gladly return the funds.

During the sittings, Xuereb admitted that he did not work the overtime shifts for which he was listed. He also said he would not verify whether police officials scheduled to be on overtime duty on the Marsa project were actually on site.

He also told the court that he would prepare and certify invoices for the ghost overtime shifts purported to be carried out by other police officers.

The court found Xuereb guilty of a series of crimes, including fraud, falsification and carrying out a crime he was duty-bound to prevent.

In addition to the five-year prison sentence, he was instructed to return the money he received through the scheme.