The Prime Minister has to sack former Police chief Peter Paul Zammit from his role at the CHOGM office after it was revealed that he had “illegally” copied a police inspector’s personal filed and handed it to a newspaper editor, Shadow Minister for Justice Jason Azzopardi said this morning.
The Times of Malta revealed today how the Police Commissioner has been fined €500 after an investigation by the Data Protection Commissioner concluded that the personal file of Inspector Elton Taliana was illegally divulged to Malta Today managing editor Saviour Balzan. The information was then used in court against the inspector,” The Times reported.
Addressing a press conference this morning, Dr Azzopardi said the Data Commissioner’s decision confirms that Mr Zammit cannot be trusted in a public role, neither as police commissioner nor as the person in charge of CHOGM security.
Dr Azzopardi mentioned a number of controversial and dubious decisions taken by the former police chief. The person who was trusted by Joseph Muscat had tried to tarnish the reputation of Inspector Taliana, who had rightly arrested two persons who had held up a shop. He also took criminal action against Norman Vella, accusing him of passing on pictures to a blogger, when this turned out not to be the case. He also ordered the withdrawal of charges against a man who assaulted police officers at the Zabbar station. It later transpired that the man had been a former client of Mr Zammit. He also stopped the procedures against a person accused of soliciting a €60 million bribe.
The Shadow Minister insisted that Peter Paul Zammit was one of the Prime Minister’s persons of trust, as Dr Muscat himself had admitted in Parliament. “If the Prime Minister does not sack Mr Zammit immediately he will be confirming that he approves of Zammit’s unacceptable behaviour that is in breach of the right to privacy and is also potentially criminal. “
PN general election candidate Roselyn Borg said the new information revealed today showed that people cannot have their minds at rest under this government. The government, and people close to it, were passing personal information to the media without the consent of those affected, she said. She also insisted that Malta’s reputation in institutions such as the CHOGM was being tarnished by the decisions taken by Joseph Muscat. The Head of the Task Force, Phyllis Muscat, was only chosen for the role because she is a friend of the Prime Minister, she said.
Saviour Balzan, who was present for the press conference on behalf of MaltaToday, denied ever having received any files from the former Police Commissioner and said he was never contacted by the Data Commissioner for his version of events.
In a statement, the Labour Party said the same people who made a big deal about the telephone recordings leaked from the police operations room, describing them as a big journalistic achievement, are now making a fuss because a journalist managed to obtain information from a police file. This is a case of weak opportunism, the PL said.