A public healthcare service employee is being investigated after he was arrested, interrogated and then released without charge for allegedly having  filed a false police report about a theft while on an official work-related trip in China. 

The Health Ministry confirmed with Times of Malta that the matter is being investigated by the ministry. 

“The Health Ministry is in contact with the Foreign Affairs Ministry and will take the appropriate action once all the facts are known and verified,” the spokeswoman said when asked about the matter. 

The ministry also confirmed that the employee had been sent to China for a training programme financed by the Chinese government. Sources said that the public healthcare service employee was interrogated for five hours by the police in Beijing following his report that he had been robbed. 

Said men stole his camera worth €2,500, a flashgun worth €290 and €120 in cash

The sources said that last Monday, the man went to the police station in Pingxi, in the district of Changping in Beijing, and claimed that two Chinese men pounced on him when he was on his way to his hotel and stole his camera worth €2,500, a flashgun worth €290 and €120 in cash.

After checking the CTTV cameras in the area indicated by man, the police concluded that he was lying and accused him of filing a false report.

The sources said the man allegedly admitted he made up the story and was kept for five hours in the police station, where he had fingerprints and photographs taken. 

Instead of arraigning him in court, and after having contacted the Maltese embassy in China, the police released him without charge. Contacted yesterday, the man refused to speak, insisting that he did not want to comment about the matter.