‘Police can probe any criminal activity’: PM about laptop found in prison cell

Robert Abela highlighted the power the police have to investigate any alleged criminal activity when asked if he would call for a magisterial inquiry over the use of a laptop by a convicted murderer.

“The police have the powers to investigate independently of any inquiry... their functions are stated in the law, and they are expected to fulfil those functions,” Abela said.

“If there are any shortcomings that amount to a criminal act, the police, together with the attorney general, have the power to prosecute. If the police feel they have reason to charge someone in court, they will do so,” he said.

The prison authorities recently found a laptop with broken security seals inside the cell of high-profile inmate Adrian Agius, known as Ta’ Maksar. The laptop was seized from his cell last week, and suspicions have since been raised that he was using the device to connect to the internet from his cell.

Agius, one of the Ta’ Maksar brothers, is in prison for life.

He was jailed last year over the murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop. His brother and another associate were also convicted of complicity in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in the same trial.

Asked why this case has not led to a magisterial inquiry, the prime minister pointed to the internal administrative inquiry currently under way in the prison.

God forbid a prime minister got involved in the investigations of the police- Prime Minister Robert Abela

'God forbid a PM got involved in police investigations'

“The episode is being treated with the seriousness it deserves. The administrative inquiry will make its conclusions and recommendations, and we will move forward following that.”

Abela said he will publish the administrative inquiry unless the inquiry itself recommends otherwise.

However, the administrative inquiry does not preclude a police investigation, the prime minister pointed out, adding that he could not confirm whether the police were working on the matter.

“God forbid a prime minister got involved in the investigations of the police,” he said.

Abela said that it is a “huge mistake” when people think the police do not have the power to investigate, “even though there are some who want to take the country down that line”.

“The main investigative force is the police and the main function of a magisterial inquiry is the preservation of evidence,” he said.