A number of police officers have been openly accused of being the whistleblower who uncovered corruption at the Traffic Branch, in what sources have described as an ongoing “witch hunt.”

41 officers have been arrested over a scandal involving overtime abuse, fuel theft and the collection of ‘protection money.’ The Traffic Branch has been practically dismantled after the scandal, which has seen at least seven of its officers resign in the wake of the bombshell revelations. Up until Friday night, 25 officers had been suspended. 31 of the officers who were arrested are out on police bail.

The Malta Independent is informed that service members who are not part of the investigation being carried out by the Internal Affairs unit, the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and the Economic Crimes Unit (ECU), have approached a number of their colleagues and accused them of being the whistleblower.

It is understood that relatives of these ‘suspected whistleblowers’ have also been approached by the officers who are trying to identify the colleague who blew the whistle.

The Malta Independent on Sunday is informed that some of those who have been approached have filed police reports and asked for protection as they are now feeling unsafe.

A source said the mentality of trying to uncover whistleblowers is pervasive within the force because of the widespread mentality that what is happening is ‘acceptable.’

Orders to ‘sit on the file’

On Saturday, The Malta Independent reported that officers investigating the racket had been told by senior officers to “sit on the file.”

While the first report was filed at the beginning of October, the investigation was only launched two months later, in December. Former Police Minister Michael Farrugia said on Saturday that the investigation started “at the end of November, beginning of December.”

Farrugia said that the probe was launched “as soon as the ministry was informed about the allegations.”

But The Malta Independent was told that the Home Affairs Ministry was informed about the case at the beginning of October and then Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar was personally informed about the case.

A file was opened, but it seems that no action was taken for a number of weeks. Officers involved in the investigation were later told that there were instructions from “up top” to “sit on the file.”

An investigation was finally launched at around the time when the whistleblower sent an email to then Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, a number of MPs and the media. In that email, the whistleblower pointed out that a report had been filed “weeks ago” but nothing had been done about it. The email was later published on social media by PN MP Jason Azzopardi.

Flooded with reports

The police have encouraged anyone with information to come forward and have provided the public with the email address of the Internal Affairs Unit.

Sources said that, since then, the unit has been “bombarded” with emails claiming abuse and misconduct in other police sections.

These include claims of inaction and failure to take reports by District Police.

The unit is now passing these emails on to District Assistant Commissioners for action to be taken. Police Officers have also taken the opportunity to report illegal activities from their colleagues.

The racket

Members of the Traffic branch used to collect protection money from contractors and transport companies in return for turning a blind eye to traffic contraventions committed by people working for these same companies. The Internal Affairs Unit has been given details of how and where these payments were collected, and who these companies are.

Officers also stole fuel from their own service motorcycles. Sources explained that these officers would fill up 10 litres of fuel every day and siphon off half the amount, selling it or using in their private vehicles.

Officers also claimed extra duty payments when, in reality, they were staying at home. The branch had been contracted by Transport Malta to monitor traffic flows at the Marsa Junction but the duty was initially carried out by officers who were on regular duty (rather than those assigned to these special duties) and, later on, by no one at all.

Some officers claimed motorcycle-related allowances when they did not even have a motorcycle license.

Former police minister Michael Farrugia said on Friday that those involved had succeeded in “covering their tracks” in order to avoid their alleged overtime abuses being noticed in the Police Force’s annual overtime evaluation report.

The fuel misappropriation racket had been ongoing for decades, this newsroom was told, while the extra duty allowance abuse and the collection of protection money had been done for a number of years but intensified over the last five or six years.

Sources said the situation only got worse when a number of expolice officers were reinstated into the force after 2013.