MaltaToday reports that Azzopardi insisted that the board wrongfully sanctioned an inspector and let members of the Criminal Investigation Department get away scot-free.Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi today said that the police board which investigated the wrongful prosecution of 27-year-old Darryl Luke Borg was not independent.
Findings from the police board inquiry into the case concluded that Police Inspector Elton Taliana had failed to inform investigating officers that a second suspect had been interrogated and admitted to committing the crime while Borg was in prison for a crime he didn't commit. It also recommended that disciplinary measures should be taken against Taliana
However, Jason Azzopardi shed doubt on the board's independence and insisted that Taliana was not at fault.
Azzopardi said that the police board headed by former judge Franco Depasquale was "appointed by Joseph Muscat and proceeded against inspector Elton Taliana who carried out his duty and arraigned in court the person who was in fact guilty of crime."
The MP insisted that although the board was presided by an independent person "this didn't make the board independent."
He added that the Opposition's reservations expressed in the past, were proven right.
"The decision flies in the face of reason. It condemned a person who resolved a crime. The board condemned a person who carried out his duties and followed the law," Azzopardi said on the police board's verdict on Taliana.
He added that the public now expects an explanation why the error was made and why an innocent man, Dayrl Luke Borg, was arraigned in court by the CID and spent two days in prison.
Azzopardi also underlined the fact that the 13-page report which was mostly concerned with Taliana had no criticism of the CID's actions.
"Why wasn't the CID leadership criticised? Does this have anything to do with promotions at the CID promised before the March election?"
The report also exposed a series of other shortcomings, Azzopardi said, asking "Who will shoulder responsibility for these shortcomings?"
The MP added that the decision taken on Taliana was taken collectively and not by one single person.
"We fully trust Depasquale but not the same can be said of the members of the board who are an extension of the Labour Party, home affairs minister Manuel Mallia and his chief of staff Silvio Scerri. The composition of the board shed doubts on the boards' independence," Azzopardi said.
He went on to ask why was an innocent person arraigned and who is going to shoulder responsibility.
"Is meritocracy now demanding that a person carrying out a job to be crucified? Does meritocracy mean that who carries out his or her duty faces the flak while those who do the wrongdoing get out scot-free?"
In reference to the report's conclusion that Taliana was legally obliged to speak to Magistrate on duty in regards top the mistaken arrest, Azzopardi was quizzed whether the inspector was duty bound to report to his superiors.
The MP insisted that Taliana was not legally bound to inform his superiors and instead reiterated that the inspector was wrongfully sanctioned for "carrying out his duties" while the CID officers got away scot-free.
Pressed to say whether Taliana had committed an error, Azzopardi insisted Elton Taliana carried out his duty appropriately.
The MP noted the "two weights two measures" by which the police board dealt with Taliana and the CID officers.
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