Arnold Cassola has asked a board tasked with overseeing police standards to investigate why the corps has ignored a request to investigate and prosecute former Infrastructure Malta boss Frederick Azzopardi for environmental crimes.

In an email sent on Friday, Cassola asked the Police Professional Standards Board to look into police inaction in the case, which dates back well over two years.

Cassola, an independent electoral candidate, academic and environmental campaigner, said the board should also consider whether members of the force colluded to ensure Azzopardi was sheltered from prosecution for his role in the partial destruction of Żebbuġ’s Wied Qirda.

Infrastructure Malta carried out various intensive works in the Żebbuġ valley in late 2019 despite having no authority or permit to do so.

Plants and protected trees were uprooted and habitats in the sensitive ecological area destroyed as a result of the roads agency’s decision to reinforce a road leading to a private residence in the rural area.

The environmental regulator, ERA, had ordered Infrastructure Malta to immediately stop the works and revert the site to its original state. That did not happen, with onsite workers ignoring the ERA order and forging ahead with works.

In January 2020, activists and campaigners sent the police a legal letter, seeking an investigation into Azzopardi for his role in allowing the illegal works to proceed.

The police never replied to that request or several reminders and have yet to press any charges against Azzopardi, who quit Infrastructure Malta earlier this year to take up a job within the private sector.

Trenching and excavation at Wied Qirda, done in 2019 with no permit. Photo: Jonathan Borg

In his email, Cassola noted that police inaction meant that “the contravenor has escaped scot-free whilst the Maltese taxpayer has to bear the costs of the environmental damage caused and any fines imposed on Infrastructure Malta.”

“This is unjust,” Cassola wrote to the police professional standards board.

The police force’s website describes the board’s role as that of investigating “complaints or allegations on matters of corruption, use of excessive force, and the violation of the force’s policies, procedures and code of ethics.”