Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this evening said that the report by the PANA committee published today suggesting ‘maladministration’ within the police force cannot be linked with Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar.

Muscat was replying to a question by Opposition Leader Adrian Delia, who asked whether the report will cause Muscat to “take action to save Malta’s name from damage,” referring to the calls for the resignation of Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar.

Muscat replied that Lawrence Cutajar was not Police Commissioner for the time period which the report was referring to (between 2013 and 2015). Cutajar was made Commissioner in 2016, as the fourth police commissioner appointed by the Labour government within that administration. He added that the government will “keep investing in the police.”

The final report by the PANA Committee was published today, listing nine key findings from their delegation’s visit to Malta on 20 February this year.

Amongst another eight, the report noted that the police is in charge of prosecuting the investigations carried out by the FIAU. They went on to say that there are reasons to believe that it is not well equipped to fulfil its task optimally, possibly suggesting a case of maladministration. Especially, the number of convictions and confiscations seems extremely low in relation to the average number of reports sent to the police by the FIAU (during the period 2013-2015).

“Once again, we have reports which are concluding that the police are not up to standard, even suggesting maladministration which has very bad connotations,” said Delia. “Things like this are damaging the name of our country.”

“I have been asking but I will ask again, is the Prime Minister going to take action to save Malta’s name?” he asked.

Muscat argued that Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutjar was “not responsible during that time period,” and added that “PANA are suggesting that there is an endemic problem within the system.”