Updated 3:53pm with PN reaction
Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà has asked the Independent Police Complaints Board to investigate unspecified "insinuations" that followed the acquittal of Christian Borg over an apparent oversight by the prosecution.
The police would not specify which insinuations they were referring to, or by whom.
Borg was acquitted of perjury in a civil case earlier this week after Magistrate Astrid May Grima observed that the police had failed to present the transcript of Borg’s testimony.
Despite presenting supporting affidavits and official documents, the police's failure to submit the verbatim record of the testimony ultimately weakened its case. The case was being prosecuted by Inspector Gabriel Micallef, according to the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation.
In a statement on Wednesday, the police said they would be appealing the acquittal.
In a subsequent statement later in the day, the force added that "the Commissioner of Police has requested the Independent Police Complaints Board to look into insinuations made".
A police spokesperson declined to elaborate on which insinuations were being investigated.
The Independent Police Complaints Board inquires into and reports on any matter regarding the conduct of the police force or any of its members.
'Gafà trying to save his own skin'
In a statement on Thursday afternoon, the PN said that rather than take responsibility for the “outrageous failure” that led to Borg’s acquittal, Gafà had referred the case to the police board to “wash his hands of the matter.”
The Opposition slammed the move as a “desperate attempt to save his own skin by shifting responsibility onto others.”
It said the police inspector Gafà was “trying to pin all the blame” on had previously been investigated for an “attempted cover-up" to protect Labour politicians and their associates and had been dismissed from the force in 2017 in connection with a separate case – while noting the inspector in question had been reinstated under Gafà’s leadership.
The PN said that his decision not to request a magisterial inquiry into the case indicated Gafà did not want the truth of the matter to emerge. The party suggested the commissioner feared an investigation would lead to criminal charges “and even implicate him personally.”
The public and members of the police force had every right to be “outraged” by the “impunity... Gafà is guaranteeing to Labour politicians and their associates”, the PN said.
“The PN maintains its position that Angelo Gafà’s role as Police Commissioner is no longer tenable and that he should have resigned or been removed long ago”, the statement co-signed by Shadow Justice Minister Karol Aquilina and Shadow Home Affairs Minister Darren Carabott read.
Acquittal reactions
Borg's acquittal on Tuesday drew strong criticism from rule of law NGO Repubblika, which said it was "increasingly led to believe there is collusion between the prosecution and defence so that criminal cases involving Robert Abela's friends are dropped."
Borg is a central figure in suspicious property deals involving Prime Minister Robert Abela.
Repubblika had said that while the police force had not produced the transcription of the alleged false testimony, it could have called on the court registrar "to give evidence to confirm what had happened before another court".
Had a mistake been made, one would have expected an apology from the attorney general and the police, and disciplinary action against those involved. But this was not a mistake, they said.
"Their silence confirms the manifest corruption of the prosecution service... This was auto-sabotage by the police against a case they had prosecuted on orders by another court."
The Nationalist Party had also strongly condemned the police commissioner following the ruling, saying it was "clear" Gafà held his position "to serve the interests of criminals who are friends of the government".