Former Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit this morning admitted that two CID officers bungled (ghamlu paprata) when they arrested a teenager by mistake but said their actions did not warrant disciplinary actions. On the other hand he felt that action ought to be taken against another police inspector, Elton Taliana, for failing to inform his superiors that he had arrested the right suspect and for failing to take immediate action for the release of a wrongly jailed person.

Mr Zammit was testifying in the libel case instituted by Police Inspector Elton Taliana against GWU Sunday paper it-Torca. The Inspector had arrested the right person but faced disciplinary proceedings “for failing to inform his superiors” about his investigation into a confectionery hold-up. The other inspectors, Carlos Cordina and Joe Mercieca, had wrongly arrested and charged 17-year-old Darryl Luke Borg with carrying out the armed robbery at the Convenience Shop in Birkirkara, but no action was taken against them. Mr Borg had spent a two days behind bars.

Inspector Taliana filed a libel suit against it-Torca after the newspaper claimed that he had known about the wrongful arrest of Mr Borg but failed to act. He has also filed separate proceedings against Malta Today, which had claimed that the inspector had been investigated in connection with arson at the newspaper editor’s residence.

Replying to questions by lawyer Joe Zammit Maempel, who is appearing for Inspector Taliana, the former Commissioner said  that the case had uncovered the lack of communication between two branches of the Police Force. The problem, he said, was that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and the district police pushed ahead with their separate investigations without informing each other.

Inspector Taliana had been chastised by the police board but an inquiry, which was only published 18 months after it was presented to Peter Paul Zammit, recommended disciplinary action against two CID inspectors and found that Inspector Taliana had acted according to procedure.

Mr Zammit, however, told Magistrate Francesco Depasquale that no action was taken against the two CID men because he felt it was "not opportune".

The internal inquiry, he said, had found that the CID officers had "rushed" when they arraigned Mr Borg. It also recommended disciplinary action against the inspectors but also that Mr Zammit should take their experience and good conduct within the force into consideration.

"On the basis of this, I decided that no action should be taken against them as they had learnt their lesson. It was my responsibility to decide. I did not feel the need of a full-blown prosecution. But I felt that action ought to be taken against Inspector Taliana because he failed to inform his superiors about the fact that there was an innocent person in jail," Mr Zammit, who resigned in 2014, said.

Lawyer Joe Zammit Maempel, who is appearing for Inspector Taliana, insisted that the inspector had arraigned the right person within 45 minutes of his admission of the crime. He also said Mr Taliana had phone his superior immediately after the arraignment, before sentencing.

But the former Commissioner said Mr Taliana should have given priority to release the innocent man from prison rather than arraign a man in court. The inspector, he said, did not inform his superiors that he had arrested the right person and that he had obtained an admission. The CID, on the other hand, only notified the district police after it was too late.

He said that it was on his insistence that Mr Borg's defence lawyers filed an urgent application for their client to be released from jail. 

Mr Zammit said the Police Board only concentrated on an aspect of the entire issue and "had not looked at the bigger picture". He said both investigations how revealed "teasing" between two police branches. 

The former police chief also conceded that, in retrospect, there were considerable differences between the person caught on the confectionery’s CCTV footage and Darryl Luke Borg. The culprit was, for a start, much taller. Mr Zammit, however, attempted to justify the mistake by saying that Mr Borg’s mother did not have an alibi for her son when questioned.

The case continues in June. Lawyer Yana Micallef Stafrace is appearing for it-Torca.