Former Police Commissioners were reluctant to comment on the on-going investigation into allegations of corruption involving more than half the police traffic branch.

In the last few days, 41 officers from the traffic branch were arrested on allegations regarding extra duties abuse, as well as the misappropriation of police fuel and the collection of protection money.

The Malta Independent has been informed that this abuse had been taking place for a number of years, and first came to the attention of the police in the last quarter of last year.

Former Police Commissioners John Rizzo and Michael Cassar were contacted and asked to comment on the scandal which has undermined the integrity of the police force.

Rizzo who was police commissioner between 2001 and 2013, said that he does not have details on this situation and that as a current member of the Permanent Commission Against Corruption (PCAC) it is not ethical for him to speak about it.

He said he could only speak on what he did in his time as police chief.

“When it comes to corruption, I took decisions against a number of members of the police force on various levels, even high ranking officers, not just policemen.”

“Unfortunately, these are things that happen. The important thing is that when you discover that something is wrong, you take the necessary steps and, to my knowledge, I took a number of decisions in this regard,” he said. “It wouldn’t even cross my mind to know about something and not take action.”

For his part, Cassar said that he did not want to comment on whatever subject we might be inquiring about. When this newsroom persisted, he said that he did not know that this kind of situation was already in place during his time as commissioner.

Cassar was Police Commissioner between 9 December 2014 and 27 April 2016. Recently, during a public inquiry on the murder case of Daphne Caruana Galizia, he was unwilling to share reasons for his resignation in public.

The Malta Independent also tried to contact Peter Paul Zammit, Police Commissioner between 2013 and 2014, but he could not be reached.