Police commissioner lashes out at 'misinformation' by inquiry critics
Gafà insists during his time not a single inquiry request was filed due to police's failure to investigate
Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà has lashed out at the spread of “misinformation” about the police refusing to investigate high-level crimes.
“In my time as police commissioner, not a single request for a magisterial inquiry was filed due to the police’s failure to investigate [allegations],” Gafà said on Saturday.
The police commissioner was responding to a question by academic and RTK103 radio host Andrew Azzopardi about the police’s apparent reluctance to investigate the Vitals-Steward hospitals deal.
A court inquiry into that deal, which has resulted in dozens of high-profile arrests, “began before my time as commissioner,” Gafà clarified.
He said critics of the police force often misled the public with their statements.
He said in one particular case, a request for a magisterial inquiry was based almost entirely on statements given to the police by convicts.
“Three-quarters of the request was a copy-paste job of statements given to the police. That proves there was an active investigation,” he said.
“The rest is lies, filing libel suits and then apologising and so on,” Gafà said without elaborating.
The latter could be construed as a dig at lawyer and former MP Jason Azzopardi, who has led the charge against the police commissioner. Azzopardi last year apologised to cabinet secretary Ryan Spagnol for having slandered him, saying he mistook him for someone else.
Reform would 'benefit' victims of crime
Gafà said a planned reform of the magisterial inquiry system would effectively add to police scrutiny, because officers who failed to investigate allegations within six months would then need to justify that decision to a judge.
It would also benefit victims of crime as they would have greater access to information about investigations, he said.
“The system needs streamlining, because currently there’s an element of forum shopping,” he said.
In a 20-minute interview, Gafà also spoke about the historic drop in crime in Malta, work to upgrade police stations, Malta’s problem with cocaine use and an ongoing investigation into mistreatment at prison.
Gafà said police began investigating allegations of mistreatment at Corradino Correctional Facility the moment a report making those allegations was published by the Ombudsman.
One of the claims made in that report was that an inmate had tried to pass information about crime to the police but was blocked from doing so.
Gafà said that was very worrying but that the police probe was currently blocked because police “do not know who this person is” and the Ombudsman has declined to disclose his or her identity.
“I’m making a public appeal,” Gafa said on the radio. “If this person is listening, please come forward.”
New Roads Policing section
The police commissioner said the force would soon unveil a new Roads Policing section which would combine the functions of traffic police and the investigations of serious road accidents, which are currently handled by district police officers.
The new section would be able to scan crash sites “within 30 minutes”, allow roads to be reopened in less time and lead to specially trained police officers being able to serve as court experts for road - and crash-related court cases, he said.
Gafà acknowledged a growing problem with cocaine use in Malta but argued it was part of a broader, global trend. EU reports on organised crime made it clear that drugs had infiltrated all major cities, he said, with technology facilitating their illicit trade. Tackling the problem required the combined work of the drugs squad and organised crime department, he said.
The police commissioner acknowledged that police had initially got it wrong when announcing the total amount of cannabis resin stolen in a heist from an army barracks.
“There was a miscalculation, I apologise,” he said, emphasising however that the seizure and subsequent weighing process was all filmed and that the miscalculation was due to human error, not foul play.
Gafà declined to comment when asked whether the police were investigating former Transport Malta chief James Piscopo, Opposition leader Bernard Grech or any other specific cases.
The police commissioner also found time to take another indirect dig at Jason Azzopardi.
“Someone” had alleged on social media that he [Gafà] had launched a probe against someone, the commissioner said.
“When I Googled it, it turned out the inquiry happened 10 years ago,” the commissioner said.
Earlier this week, Azzopardi claimed on Facebook that Gafà had in the past launched an investigation into alleged fuel misuse by former Opposition leader Simon Busuttil. The incident dates back to 2015 and Busuttil's driver was subsequently exonerated.