Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa said on Monday that the police investigate all allegations of crime that come to its attention. He was being asked whether the police will be looking into the Pandora Papers revelations.

The ICIJ-led investigation has revealed, among other things, how former European Commissioner John Dalli had failed to declare an offshore account he held while he was a Member of Parliament.

“I can assure the public that every time an allegation of a crime reaches the police, an investigation is launched,” Gafa told journalists on Monday.

“In Malta, there are a number of authorities and agencies, the police force among them, and we work with them, including through our Financial Crime Task Force.”

Gafa also said that an internal investigation had been launched into the case of an alleged rape, where the victims said she has not been spoken to by the police, 15 months after the incident. The case was reported by Times of Malta on Sunday.

The police chief said he could not go into detail so as not to prejudice the internal investigation, but added that the case has now been assigned to the Vice Squad.

 

Prison review extension

Speaking during the same press conference, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri explained why he had accepted a request for an extension to an internal review at the prisons agency.

The review was ordered by Camilleri following the death of a young prison inmate – the 13th inmate death in the space of three years.

Originally, it was given a deadline of 60 days, but the ministry said on Saturday it had accepted a request to extend it by another two months.

The inquiry board is entrusted with scrutinising procedures surrounding the assessment of the mental and physical wellbeing of the inmates who would have just entered prison, and a study on the regulations imposed by the Correctional Services Agency, along with also scrutinising procedures relating to the assessment of the mental and physical wellbeing of the inmates during the course of their sentence and procedures adopted on prisoners returning to Corradino after being discharged from Mount Carmel Hospital.

It will also scrutinise the procedures, policies and regulations adopted by the Correctional Services Agency on the rehabilitation of inmates, and scrutinise measures on the prevention of suicides followed by the agency.

Speaking to journalists, Camilleri said: “I felt that, once they were asking for an extension in order to be allowed to do a good job, I had to accept.”

People should be given the time and resources they require to perform their duties to the best of their ability.

He said that once the review is concluded, the government will implement the recommendations.

The minister reiterated that, in the case of prison director Alex Dalli, he will take action based on facts, not allegations.

“We started off from a free for all, a system of the jungle, where all forms of abuses were tolerated. Abuse not only on prisoners but also on prison staff. The system had collapsed. We have improved the situation and will continue doing so, also based on the outcome of this review.”

He refused the suggestion that the review, with its terms of reference, will not be looking at the actions of the prison leadership.