Outgoing police chief Lawrence Cutajar had "shielded criminality led from Castille" and his resignation came two years too late, Opposition leader Adrian Delia said on Saturday.
In a brief telephone interview on Net FM, the Nationalist Party leader said that had Mr Cutajar been sidelined earlier, it would have saved all the “manipulation” which took place in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder investigation and corruption scandals.
“He stayed there to obstruct the course of justice, and prevent the entire truth to emerge while protecting criminality,” he said, saying the past two years had shown just why Mr Cutajar had been chosen for the role.
Mr Cutajar handed in his resignation as police commissioner on Friday morning. The offer was accepted by Prime Minister Robert Abela.
The outgoing commissioner faced vociferous criticism, at home and abroad, about the police force's failure to investigate top government officials suspected of wrongdoing.
Looking forward, the PN leader reiterated his call for the government to take the Opposition’s proposal on board whereby the commissioner of police would enjoy the support of two-thirds of MPs.
Prime Minister Robert Abela said he would be holding talks with the Opposition on the appointment mechanism, but has not committed himself whether he would be willing to accept such proposal.
Dr Delia pointed out that acting commissioner Carmelo Magri was the sixth different chief in six years, saying this did not bode well for the stability of the police force.
Governance Board
Dr Delia said he would reserve his judgment on the Prime Minister’s decision to appoint a governance board to a later stage, as he was not yet privy to the details.
However, he said that such an entity could not be presided by the same people who were the ones in the spotlight.
“You cannot have a situation whereby those under scrutiny are deciding on the check and balances on themselves,” he said.
In this respect he criticised the decision to appoint the head of the civil service Mario Cutajar as the board’s secretary.
“We have been calling for his resignation as he manipulated the civil service to serve the government rather than the people,” the Opposition leader said.
Dr Delia said such a board should be impartial and its representatives should be widened to include the Opposition, civil society and constituted bodies.
The PN leader said the party would keep insisting on its 15 good governance proposals, rolled out last month.
“As Opposition leader I am willing to sit for talks to start rebuilding the country’s democratic structures,” he said.
Dr Delia added that changes requiring a two-thirds parliamentary majority could only be approved if all stakeholders would be consulted and brought on board.