The Nationalist Party slammed the government on Wednesday for having, it said, doubled Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà's pay to €107,438 a year through allowances.

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri denied the claim and said the pay of all police senior officers had been raised. 

In a statement, Darren Carabott, the shadow minister for home affairs, said that instead of ensuring that Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà fulfilled his duties properly, the Labour government had chosen to secretly grant him a financial package worth more than €107,000 per year, including allowances.

He was referring to figures given in reply to a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP David Agius.  

"The Maltese and Gozitan people are paying almost €9,000 a month for the government to keep the police commissioner quiet," Carabott said.

He said the commissioner's most significant failures included major shortcomings in the prosecution or investigation of serious cases, public comments with subtle political messages, and internal issues hampering the police force’s operations.  

The shadow minister observed that the commissioner's pay increase was hidden in allowances that exceeded €60,000 rather than a raise in his pay scale. These allowances surpassed his salary.

"It’s no wonder that in recent weeks, Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà felt comfortable enough to say that his job is to implement the policies stemming from the Labour Government’s political manifesto," Carabott added. 

He asked why the prime minister and Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri had approved these increases and how they could ever justify them.

He also expressed solidarity with police officers in the Police Force, "who see these types of allowances being given to someone who is failing them significantly,"  

Carabott also raised the matter in parliament, asking about the justification for the increases when the police were struggling with insufficient resources.

Minister: Pay of all senior officers was revised

The minister, Byron Camilleri denied that the commissioner's pay had doubled and said that it was not just the pay of the commissioner that had been raised but that of the deputy commissioner, superintendents and other police officers.

“This is a government that has improved the wages of all the police corps,” Camilleri said. “When the opposition had a chance and was in government, not only did it not improve the police wages, but at times did not even pay them.”

The Home Affairs Minister tabled the following information in parliament on allowances given to senior police officers.

The Labour Party in a statement later said it was fake news by the PN that the police commissioner's pay had been doubled. The pay of all senior police officers had been reviewed and the information had been tabled in parliament even though it was not sought.  

The PL said the Opposition was bent on attacking the institutions including the police, and then pretended to regret attacks on the members of the police corps.