The newspaper coverage of whether the report lodged against Silvio Scerri, for conspiracy to murder the man for whom the mother of his children left him, is true or false tends to miss the essential point. The police cannot conduct a free, independent and unbiased investigation into the man who is their minister's chief of staff. But equally, they cannot conduct a free, independent and unbiased investigation into the mother of his children, with whom he is permanently at war.

This is more so when both the minister and his chief of staff have gone out of their way to create the impression - real or imagined - that they both have a direct hand in what goes on in the police force, and that police officers are promoted, demoted or removed altogether at their leisure and pleasure. Which police officer is going to stick his neck out to investigate the man he thinks has the power to get rid of him or deploy him to some Godforsaken backroom? Equally, wouldn't some police officers be tripping over each other in their efforts to curry favour with the man who they think holds their destiny in his hands?

The police, in what that newspaper described as an "uncharacteristically long and prompt reply" told Times of Malta that they had deemed the report lodged by Stephanie Chircop and Scott Dixon (Scerri's estranged consort and the man for whom she left him) to be false "as far back as 2012"). This conflicts directly with the testimony given under oath in court a few days ago by the investigating officer, Inspector Chris Pullicino. He said that the report "might be false". Had he deemed it to be definitely false, he would have said so conclusively, and one assumes that he would have seized the opportunity to arrest Chircop, file charges against her, and have her indicted for the crime of filing a false report. But he hasn't.

Another piece of information that has gone ignored, despite its significance, is that Police Commissioner Rizzo removed Inspector Pullicino from the Homicide Squad in 2012, because of suspicions that could not be proven, in connection with another case. When Manuel Mallia became Police Minister (and Silvio Scerri his chief of staff), Inspector Pullicino was redeployed to the Homicide Squad - and as officer in charge. This vitiates any investigation he may carry out in connection with Silvio Scerri or his estranged consort, and sours public perception of the situation.

The fact remains that Stephanie Chircop had taken the information she received, about the conspiracy to murder, to the police in late 2011. A magisterial enquiry was opened at that point. Despite the claims made by the police this weekend that the report was taken to be false back in 2012 (when their very own investigating officer said that it "might" be), Chircop was only summoned by the police on 1 June 2013. This was less than three months after her estranged consort had become chief of staff to the Police Minister, following Labour's election to government. It may be a simple, unfortunate coincidence, but the fact that the police omitted this important detail from their "uncharacteristically long and prompt" reply to Times of Malta makes that even more difficult to believe, more so when this piece of information is considered in the context of Chris Pullicino's redeployment to the Homicide Squad under the incoming Police Minister.

Suspicion that this was abusive harassment is compounded by the fact that Chircop was not simply interviewed by the police, but was interrogated under arrest and then locked up in a cell for 33 hours, during which time she was not spoken to again. The police also searched her home and took her laptop computer and her mobile phone. The suspicion therefore arises that Stephanie Chircop is under police harassment because of her very tense relationship with the Police Minister's chief of staff.

Whether these suspicions are unfounded or not is irrelevant to the main point at issue here: that the general public, and Stephanie Chircop in particular, cannot be serene in the knowledge that the police are conducting a fair and proper investigation into the matter as long as Silvio Scerri remains their minister's chief of staff. And given the close relationship between the police minister and his chief of staff, those suspicions will unfortunately stay on even if the unthinkable happens and Scerri decides to do the decent thing and step down at least until matters are concluded.

Manuel Mallia's justification of his choice of Silvio Scerri as chief of staff, when he knew of the ongoing investigations, is illogical and unworthy of such a famous criminal defence lawyer. He said unequivocally that the allegations against Scerri are false. Besides being unwise, this statement ignores the natural conclusion that if the allegations are false, then Scerri's estranged consort would be investigated for the crime of making a false report to the police. But she hasn't been. The point that the Police Minister misses, deliberately or otherwise, is that this too puts the police in an incredibly difficult position because the situation is wide open to abuse, real or perceived. If they are not investigating their minister's chief of staff, then they are investigating the mother of the chief of staff's children, with whom he is in grave conflict. As long as Silvio Scerri is their minister's chief of staff, the police might be reluctant to investigate him as they should, but they might also be all too keen to investigate Chircop improperly and abusively so as to please him.