‘Faith lost’ in the police after sensitive information is ‘fed’ to newspaper

Alleanza Bidla leader Ivan Grech Mintoff yesterday declared that he has no faith in the police and will not be handing over any information about the medical visas scandal after sensitive information was leaked to MaltaToday.

Following a press conference on Friday, Mr Grech Mintoff was invited by the police to share any information he had with them. Within minutes of the phone call, MaltaTo- day ran a story saying that he had been contacted by the police.

“During yesterday’ s press conference, I explained that more facts will be coming out in the media regarding the Libyan visa scandal and that we should all work together quickly to prevent more harm to Malta’s reputation. As opposed to what was reported, I praised the police for the work done so far. I explained that they had not yet seen the evidence we had recently seen. I said that I would be most willing to co-operate with them, if they felt I could contribute.

<< “At 3:38pm yesterday, the police called me on my mobile and ‘invited’ me to go and discuss the matter with them. I willingly agreed to go and a date and time was set for us to meet. I did not call or speak to anyone about this matter as I felt that this whole issue is of national importance.

“I was therefore totally surprised and shocked when very soon after this call, other phone calls started coming in, asking me if I had been arrested! Within one hour after the police called me, at 4:40pm, the MaltaToday portal had already posted that the police had ‘invited’ me to talk to them,” Mr Grech Mintoff said.

“I did not give MaltaToday any information, so how did they get it? What confidence can one actually have that any serious investigation by the police on something so nationally serious will actually take place when MaltaToday is ‘fed’ such sensitive information without my consent by the police themselves before they even talk to me?

“If I were to divulge anything very serious to the police now, will it also end up in the media of progressive liberals like MaltaToday?”

He urged the police to investigate the leak so that his confidence in the force could be restored.

“Furthermore, Neville Gafa’s lawyer is ex Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit, who was appointed as such by this present government’s legislature. He recently resigned his post. Serious allegations were made by the head of the EU’s anti-fraud agency, Giovanni Kessler, regarding his conduct on Commissioner Dalli’s case. He was found by a police investigation board to have ‘unjustly’ ordered the withdrawal of charges against a former client of his.

“It was also reported in the press that ‘ A Data Protection Commission’ investigation revealed that the files in question, Police Inspector Elton Taliana’s personal record with the corps, had been in Zammit’s office when they were leaked’.

“Despite all this, the Prime Minister himself is on record as saying that this person is another one of those ‘men in his trust.’ He is obviously, still connected with the government, the security/police as well as the legal system.”

Mr Grech Mintoff said that “regrettably, all this, together with MaltaToday’s behaviour yesterday further increases my own concerns on the full matter.

“After taking legal advice, as well as discussing the matter with the witnesses themselves, and despite all of the above, I nevertheless kept my appointment with the police who are carrying out the actual investigations this morning. I am convinced that they are doing diligent work. Yet, bearing all the facts mentioned above in mind, I am also convinced that no proper legal conclusion on this very serious national matter will be allowed by certain politicians and their friends.

“Until these officers are allowed to work properly, free of manoeuvres seen so far, there will not be any information divulged from my end to an institution that leaks important data to the press so easily. However, so that the public will become fully aware as to what is actually going on, the independent media will be used instead to inform all concerned of the evidence at hand.

“I therefore urge the public to follow the newspapers on Sunday (tomorrow) as well as to watch our next programme of Exodus on F-Living TV Channel at 3.30pm on Tuesday 30 August, where more evidence will be produced

Ivan Grech Mintoff