Updated 9.50am with Repubblika call for an independent inquiry

A government inquiry into the police overtime system has been ordered after allegations of widespread abuse in the traffic branch saw dozens of officers arrested.

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri has asked the Internal Audit and Investigations Department to carry out an inquiry across the entire force, according to an internal memo seen by Times of Malta.

Its aim is to find out “how the system worked and if there is the possibility that there are other cases like these”.

The audit will “conduct a thorough investigation of the facts and circumstances surrounding the alleged wrongdoing”.

Some 25 officers have been suspended so far and a further seven have resigned over the suspected overtime fraud.

While 31 people are on police bail, no one has yet been charged, a week on from a Times of Malta report revealing the allegations.

An internal police investigation into the abuse is already underway after a whistleblower wrote a letter last December to then police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar.

However, the Home Affairs Ministry has ordered the government investigation “to also have an independent body investigating these claims in parallel to the police investigations”.

Call for a public inquiry

In a reaction, civil society group Repubblika said the serious situation in the police force needed to be given the importance it deserved through the appointment of an independent public inquiry.

Asking the government's own internal audit unit to investigate the situation was a half-hearted measure aimed at sweeping the situation under the carpet. It would apportion blame on the small fry while those higher up with escape responsibility.

This overtime abuse was clearly a symptom of far more serious problems in the police force, Repubblika said, and the government appeared to fear the truth coming out.

"Who is the government protecting?" the group asked.