The police were replying to a statement made by opposition MP Gavin Gulia who said that the police had failed to take criminal action against Joseph Fenech for an alleged Lm20,000 fraud case.

The police said that immediately after a court ruling stipulating that police should have taken action against Fenech, known as il-hafi, an appeal was filed and therefore the police could not press charges against him.

When the appeal was dismissed on 19 August, the police said they immediately began to step-up proceedings against Fenech and a summons was filed in the court registry on 26 August. Through a written statement, the police said there had been no shortcomings on their side, because as soon as the court had thrown out the appeal, they began working on the charges, and the summons was filed within the time stipulated by law.