Head of the Civil Protection Department John Rizzo is set to step down according to an announcement made by Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela in parliament this afternoon.

He is currently out on leave before retiring.

Mr Rizzo was appointed in the role after his resignation as the Commissioner of Police following the last general election.

In parliament, Minister Carmelo Abela also slammed shadow minister for home affairs Beppe Fenech Adami for not coming up with one proposal throughout his speech on the budget measures effecting Malta’s disciplined forces.

He then said that a Nationalist Party (PN) in power would sack people from the disciplined forces of Malta. Dr Abela repeatedly said “The leader of the opposition Simon Busuttil thinks there are too many government workers. He wants to reduce them. These are his words”.

Dr Busuttil said in parliament on Monday night that he would not replace a portion of government workers that reach retirement age.

Mr Abela announced the launch of a Crime Prevention Strategy. Malta is the only country in the EU without one, he said, and will entail continuous training. The Police Academy will be hosting a number of classes that will be focused on the Crime Prevention Strategy.

He slammed the previous PN government for forgetting the importance of police training and allowing this to stagnate.

He praised the work done by Maltese forces in the rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean.

The minister questioned why MP Francis Zammit Dimech would table questions regarding integration to his particular ministry since a ministry devoted to integration had already been set-up, something which according to Mr Abela the member of parliament already knew.

When confronting issues tabled towards him about the lack of investment in national security within the budget, the minister pointed out that Malta had received about 100 million euros in EU funds for this particular investment.

 Talking about immigration in relation to Malta's forthcoming EU presidency Mr Abela said that the country would work to create a much improved relocation process.

 Whilst the government does a significant amount when working with relocation much more could be done on an EU level.

On Kordin Correctional Facility, the minister stressed that it should not be viewed a s prison instead a facility were offenders can rehabilitate and contribute to society upon their release.

He stressed that the government has started and will be determined to continue to work on improving the correctional facility's structure thorough proper investment in the management and administration of the facility which would see rehabilitation become a reality.

 This sentiment was extended to juvenila correctional facilities, with Mr Abela saying that the government has already invested in the extension of the current bulidng. He also said that the government is also investing through concrete programs and courses  in sport, education and self-help  will assist its inhabitants.

The minister also spoke about the work being done in the field or parole and probabtion through capable officers, whilst also saying that these probabtion officrs also help with the victims of such offences.

According to Mr Abela, Malta currently has the highest amount of police officer corps the it has ever had previously, and by producing Police officers who work on the beat crime has been able to steadily decrease annually.

 He did however point out that pick pocketing, for whatever reason, has been on the rise in the last couple of years, and whislt the rate of conviction is extremely low, it should not reflect badly on the great work police officers do at the moment.

The minister did stress that there is still a lot of work to do and the government would be doing everything in its power to see change and reform in the current system in order to attempt to tackle crime.   

 

 

 

Shadow Minister for home affairs Beppe Fenech Adami criticised the government for forgetting the armed forces, the civil protection department, the police and prisons in the 2017 budget.

“Minister (Carmelo Abela), this budget has forgotten you,” said Dr Fenech Adami in parliament this afternoon.

He noted that when there was a change of government, certain people within the Prime Minister’s inner circle enjoyed promotion after promotion.

“This was all planned before the election, so that the Prime Minister’s ‘yes men’ would be instated instead. Minister Abela, you know the head and deputy head of the Armed Forces boast of having a direct line to Castille and also boast that they do not respond to you,” said Dr Fenech Adami.

“Today we are in a situation with the Armed Forces that when they want a transfer, they bypass you and go straight to Castille (Office of the Prime Minister).”

Dr Fenech Adami made reference to allegations that the Prime Minister’s wife Michelle Muscat had mediated a dispute among the top levels of the Armed Forces of Malta.

He praised the government for continuing investment promises, the foundations of which were made under the previous Nationalist Party (PN), he said, but quickly added that investment must also extent to Malta’s disciplined forces.

Turning to issues surrounding Malta’s prison system, Dr Fenech Adami said that an effort needs to be made to help ex-prisoners to rehabilitate and re-enter society. He spoke of a woman who had pleaded with him so that Dr Fenech Adami could arrange for her to go back to prison, because she had food and shelter.

He said that this woman’s story highlights the need to help people coming out of prison to find work and shelter, and generally help with the rehabilitation process.

The deplorable conditions of prison were also highlighted, with Dr Fenech Adami making reference to 17 prisoners caught with drugs on them.

“God knows how many more are in the possession of drugs, but did not get caught,” he said.

On the controversial LNG tanker berthed at Marsaxlokk Bay, Dr Fenech Adami pleaded with Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela to put pressure and have the Emergency Evacuation Plan set up and distributed to Marsaxlokk residents.

This is applicable to nearby residents and the people of the Civil Protection Department, he said.

“Prime Minister Joseph Muscat found the money to distribute flyers filled with propaganda to Marsaxlokk residents to justify the tanker, but could not find the money to distribute an Emergency Evacuation Plan,” he said.

Making reference to the allegations levelled against him, relating to his role as director of a Maltese fiduciary company that has links with money laundering and drug smuggling. An independent inquiry was launched in order to investigate why the police stopped investigating when Dr Fenech Adami’s name appeared. It is alleged that the local police did not assist and stopped responding to Dutch authorities’ requests into the investigation.

Dr Fenech Adami categorically denied any wrong doing, and appealed for the cases of abuse of power that have taken place to be investigated, in the same way an independent inquiry was launched for the allegations against himself.

He held out a copy of an e-mail sent by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to chief of staff Keith Schembri, with Head of the Civil Service Mario Cutajar copied in, where Dr Muscat gave the latter the go ahead to make the transfer of €4 million for Cafe’ Premier.

The Algerian visa scandal, the medical Libyan visa scandal, Panama Papers and a number of others were cited as cases that need investigating.