Deputy Police Commissioner Ramon Mercieca has resigned from the FIAU board and has not returned to work with the force since a photo of him attending Rosianne Cutajar’s baby gender reveal party emerged last month.

Mercieca has been out on sick leave since the then-Labour MP’s event on March 25.

And when the photograph showing the senior police officer at the party emerged on social media two days later, Mercieca stepped down from the board of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU).

A spokesperson for the FIAU told Times of Malta that Mercieca’s last day on the board was March 27.

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri appointing Ramon Mercieca (right) as deputy commissioner in 2021. Mercieca holds the second most powerful job in the police force.

The FIAU is the national body responsible for combating money laundering and terrorism funding, and Mercieca had been serving on its board as a representative of the police force.

“When you’re in that position, which bears such great responsibility, it’s not ethical to go to a party like that in the midst of a national controversy,” one senior source told Times of Malta.

The party took place four days after author Mark Camilleri leaked thousands of WhatsApp messages, which revealed Cutajar’s intimate relationship with businessman Yorgen Fenech at a time when she was publicly defending corruption claims against him.

Rosianne Cutajar at her gender reveal party with her partner Daniel Farrugia.

They showed how Cutajar had received gifts from Fenech and revealed she had decided to take a consultancy job with the Institute of Tourism Studies because “everyone pigs out”.

On Monday, Cutajar resigned from the Labour parliamentary group over the controversy but remains an independent MP.

Mercieca is one of two deputy police commissioners, the second most powerful position in the police. He is in charge of most of the country’s police operations, including all police districts, the community police, custody, the rapid intervention unit, the traffic unit, the K9 unit, parliament security and the weapons department.

Cutajar, whose lawyer told a court last week that she is six months pregnant, hosted the party to reveal she is having a baby girl.

In a reply to questions, the police did not link Mercieca’s absence from work to his presence at the party, saying he “is on long sick leave with a medical certificate”.

However, the same reply also emphasised that all police officers are required to follow the police force’s code of ethics.

“One may also note that in the past months and years, the Malta Police Force has introduced a number of policies and updated its code of ethics with the aim of enhancing good governance within the corps,” a police spokesperson said. “It is expected that each and every officer adheres to these policies.”

Multiple senior police sources told Times of Malta that the photo at the party was the reason Mercieca has been absent from work over the past two weeks. Mercieca did not respond to multiple attempts to contact him.

The code of ethics of the Malta Police Force, which was last updated in 2020, does not specifically prohibit officers from attending social events or politicians’ personal events, but it obliges them to seek to always act responsibly, professionally, ethically, without bias and to lead by example.

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri appointing Ramon Mercieca (right) as deputy commissioner in 2021. Mercieca holds the second most powerful job in the police force, together with two other deputy commissioners.

Mercieca was appointed deputy commissioner in 2021. He had been climbing up the rank ladder since 2001, when he entered the force as a police inspector. He was then promoted to superintendent in 2015 and to assistant commissioner in 2017, and in 2020 he was entrusted with the implementation of Commissioner Angelo Gafà’s transformation strategy.