The Bogdanovic inquiry shows a police force wedded to men of influence

Read the conclusions of the inquiry by Carmel Vassallo between the lines: Daniel Bogdanovic was not released on police bail in time for a Sunday match because someone demanded special treatment for the Xewkija Tigers midfielder. It was because pressure was brought to bear upon a police inspector after phone-calls from Assistant Commissioner Carmelo Magri and a conversation she had with Gozo’s superintendent Antonello Grech.

The suggestion made to Insp. Edel Mary Camilleri was subtle: should Bogdanovic be kept in the lock-up “more than necessary” - even though she had agreed with Magistrate Joanne Vella Cuschieri that the footballer would be arraigned under arrest on Monday, 31 October, before the 48-hour lapse for people kept in detention?

By Sunday morning, after those phone calls and the entreaty of Supt. Grech, details of which were not published, Camilleri weighed her options and decided to give Bogdanovic police bail, so that her superiors would not think she was being overweening with her power.

And the reason Bogdanovic’s arrest had elicited interest from AC Magri was because Xewkija coach Jesmond Zammit felt he was able to pick up the phone and ask about police business. He was after all the chief of staff of junior minister Ian Borg.

Jesmond Zammit, the person of trust who serves as chief of staff to Ian Borg, the parliamentary secretary for EU funds, is back at his desk from tomorrow morning.

He spent three weeks suspended from work pending an inquiry into the release on police bail of former Malta international midfielder Daniel Bogdanovic, making it possible for him to play for Xewkija Tigers – the team Zammit coaches – against Kercem the day of his release.

The inquiry, carried out by retired AFM commander Carmel Vassallo, was tasked to establish the legality of the release and whether any “external intervention” played a part in the release. And yet, nowhere in the Bogdanovic inquiry does Vassallo once mention that Xewkija coach Jesmond Zammit is indeed a government official, a person of trust who felt he could freely call up Assistant Commissioner Carmelo Magri to inquire about his footballer’s arrest.

And why, of all people, AC Magri? Because he had to be someone amenable to this kind of request from a Labour government aide, and not a rigid observer of procedure who would have otherwise fobbed off the man calling him about a domestic violence incident.

Filing the report

On 29 October at 7pm, Daniel Bogdanovic’s wife Alison and her brother Ferdinando Apap – who happens to be a striker for Ghajnsielem FC – reported her husband to the Victoria police over a threatening SMS he had sent her. The contents of the SMS have been redacted in the inquiry, although they are described as a “serious threat” and that Bogdanovic denied pointing a pistol at his wife’s face. Fear is a central fact of this story: his wife had been scared to file a report earlier, and it was this SMS that singularly pushed her to tell the police, which is why she was accompanied by her brother.

After his arrest that evening, and having his pistol – which he kept in his bedroom commode – and rifle seized, Insp. Edel Mary Camilleri informed Magistrate Joanne Vella Cuschieri she would arraign the footballer first thing on Monday morning, under arrest. Camilleri at this point was not considering granting Bogdanovic police bail, because she had yet to procure his police records, which was only possible on Monday morning.

Assistant Commissioner Carmelo Magri specifically asked Camilleri whether Bogdanovic could be arraigned on Sunday morning

But two things happened that put Camilleri in a quandary. That Saturday evening, AC Magri – having been contacted by Jesmond Zammit – called Camilleri to suggest to her “especially due to the circumstances of the case, to communicate again with the Magistrate over the time of the arraignment.” Indeed, AC Magri specifically asked Camilleri whether Bogdanovic could be arraigned on Sunday morning, although he gave no instructions on giving the footballer police bail. Camilleri spoke to Vella Cuschieri, who confirmed that Bogdanovic be arraigned on Monday, and relayed the conversation to AC Magri, who in turn also spoke to Zammit to tell him Bogdanovic would be kept under arrest.

A conversation that sounded like a warning

Then on Sunday morning, a conversation ensued between Superintendent Antonello Grech and Edel Mary Camilleri, a conversation she said that “sounded like a warning”. The testimonies of the police officers have not been published, but it is stated that Grech suggested that keeping Bogdanovic under arrest would be “against the spirit of the law” since Camilleri had already seized the weapons, ensured the safety of the victims, and was only waiting for the police offices to re-open on Monday.

Although not published in the inquiry report, MaltaToday is also informed that Bogdanovic’s football match was brought up in this conversation, and that the prospect that he would not play was raised.

Why, of all people, AC Magri? Because he had to be someone amenable to this kind of request from a Labour person of trust like Jesmond Zammit

“What stands out particularly, more than AC Magri’s phone-call, is the conversation between Grech and Camilleri,” Vassallo precised. “The original phone-call on Saturday set the ball rolling, but the determining factor for police bail to be given was this conversation… this conversation should be a subject for the police administration, perhaps the Attorney General, to inquire upon further, in the interest of the police corps.”

To Vassallo, as he wrote in his inquiry report, Antonello Grech testified that it was “not normal practice” that police keep a person under arrest up to the 48-hour limit. But Vassallo states that although Camilleri’s investigation was practically complete, this did not mean that Bogdanovic had to be released automatically: “The seriousness of the case and the sensitivity necessary in treating domestic violence demand caution. The Inspector felt that the Superintendent’s speech that Sunday morning sounded like a warning.

It made no sense in giving him police bail if such a serious threat necessitated issuing a protection order Carmel Vassallo

“So she felt conflicted… she felt Bogdanovic’s threat was a serious one, she was aware that the weapons were not kept under lock and key,” Vassallo noted. But there was a contradiction in the course of action that Camilleri finally took by giving Bogdanovic police bail. Because Camilleri wanted the Magistrate to issue a protection order for Alison Bogdanovic and her three children, and that necessitated that Daniel Bogdanovic be arraigned under arrest – if not, it would have taken weeks to have him appear in court with the otherwise normal ‘notification’.

“So it made no sense in giving him police bail,” Vassallo pointed out, “if such a serious threat as [Bogdanovic] made also necessitated issuing a protection order. In these circumstances, the choice had to be either police bail and a notification to appear in court, or to keep him under arrest as agreed with the magistrate, 37 hours later on Monday morning.”

Doubts about police bail

Vassallo was also clear that doubts still lingered on the fact that Bogdanovic had to play Kercem that same Sunday afternoon. “It could be that the telephone calls from AC Magri and particularly the conversation she had with her superintendent, brought the inspector to decide on police bail. The lack of sensitivity in this decision is present, without doubt.”

Indeed, Vassallo continued, it struck him as baffling that prohibitive injunctions could be meted out by the courts to stop large-scale construction projects on a mere application by interested parties. “In the case of domestic violence, shouldn’t a protection order be issued on the mere authority of the Magistrate, instead of through a formal court sitting?”

Conclusion: it was all above board surely, but Edel Mary Camilleri had a choice before her. She knew that AC Magri could have ‘wished’ to see Bogdanovic arraigned as soon as possible on Sunday morning (he would have been granted provisional liberty and still make the match in time…); and Supt Grech was adamant that she does not keep the Xewkija favourite under arrest for any longer than was necessary – even though she required a protection order for his family from the courts. Edel Mary Camilleri buckled under this kind of pressure. The law was upheld, the procedure had been followed, and Bogdanovic could be allowed to play his match, keeping the fans and the club’s administration happy.