A former senior police officer, ex-Assistant Commissioner Michael Cassar, was in the news recently in connection with the case instituted by the Prime Minister against the Opposition Leader following the latter's declarations on the resignation of John Dalli from the post of European Commissioner.
Mr Cassar is reported to have told the Parliamentary Privileges Committee that John Dalli's potential conviction depended on the way the police prosecuted against him. According to TMI, Mr Michael Cassar stated that he believed that Mr Dalli and his canvasser Silvio Zammit should be arraigned together, because a case against Mr Dalli alone would most likely be lost.
Let's for a moment forget that this is a case against Mr Dalli. A similar situation could have arisen in respect of any other private citizen. Can a case simply hold on the premise that an accused is prosecuted with his accomplice? I don't think so.
The police are expected to look at the evidence first and decide whether there is enough proof that a crime has been committed or not. Proofs are based on facts. Circumstantial evidence is a fact.
The job of the police is to establish whether there are enough facts to find a person guilty of a crime or not. Then, it is up to our Court, which is supposed to be an independent body, to establish whether those facts are true or not.
Logic teaches me that guilt or innocence is established independently from the way a person is prosecuted. This is a basic principle of natural justice. Therefore the onus on the police is to establish whether there is enough evidence to prosecute any person irrespective of whether that person is prosecuted on his or her own or together with an accomplice.
Maltese citizens are slowly realizing that our 'prosecutions' are strained. The little sympathy that the Maltese citizens once had towards our 'Bobbies' is also waning. The police force is a big delusion.
What John Citizen is demanding from our Prime Minister and the rest of the Labour Government now is less waffle and more clear action.