Updated July 14
Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi said Monday that the police commissioner should stand up to interference 'from Castille".
He also stressed that it was about time that the police commissioner showed there was real substantive change in the police force and not just a change of image.
"The police commissioner was appointed several months ago, he is no longer on probation and we expect results," Azzopardi said in an adjournment speech in parliament.
Commissioner Angelo Gafa' had been appointed at a particular time characterised by street protests that had brought down the prime minister, he said.
There had been much hope that things would change. True, the image (of the police) had changed, but the people were still awaiting real results.
The police commissioner, he said, had not arraigned individuals close to the Labour Party who were mentioned in allegations of abuse of public funds or corruption.
It was not enough to say that Keith Schembri and Brian Tonna had been arraigned. Their arraignment was a result of a magisterial inquiry instigated by Simon Busuttil and Repubblika in 2017, not the work of the police.
"What is the police commissioner waiting for to arraign Chris Cardona, Konrad Mizzi, Edward Scicluna, Carmelo Abela, Silvio Valletta, Keith Schembri, Heathcliff Farrugia, Joseph Muscat and Diane Izzo, among others?
"We have not seen anyone arraigned over corruption in the VGH hospital contract, the Montenegro windfarms project, Electrogas or the Panama Papers.
"A magisterial inquiry into Pilatus Bank was closed months, not weeks ago. The magistrate called for the arraignment of several Maltese and foreigners over serious abuses. Why has no one been arraigned over Pilatus, which was a money-laundering machine," Azzopardi asked.
Referring to the Montenegro windfarm project, which Joseph Muscat had visited in late 2019 just before he stepped down (In January 2020), Azzopardi asked why the prime minister had felt the need to take Izzo, a close family friend, with him on that visit. Was the commissioner investigating this?
The Nationalist MP said he was calling on the commissioner to stand up to interference he was getting from Castille.
It was immoral, he said, that undeserving individuals were promoted to assistant commissioner in the past years, and that deserving officers were encountering obstruction when they deserved a vote of confidence. The commissioner should ensure there was justice for all the members of the police force.
Mr Gafa' needed to show he was different from his predecessors and that there would be no continuity of the impunity seen over the past years. After so many months since his appointment, the people expected a new direction, Azzopardi said.
In a reply to Azzopardi's comments, Diane Izzo said:
"I was in Montenegro for a few hours for an official function as the spouse of the Maltese Ambassador to the country.
"It is disgraceful how Dr Azzopardi is continuously engaged in a personal smear campaign against myself, which is totally baseless," she said.