The Bogdanovic Inquiry • The digested read

What is the inquiry about?

The former Armed Forces commander Carmel Vassallo was tasked with an inquiry into a MaltaToday report that showed that Xewkija Tigers midfielder Daniel Bogdanovic was released on police bail 12 hours after his arrest on domestic violence charges, so that he could make a 3pm kick-off on Sunday 30 October to play Kercem FC. MaltaToday reported that it was a ministry official who demanded his release. Upon appointment of the inquiry, Xewkija Tigers coach Jesmond Zammit – the chief of staff of parliamentary Ian Borg – suspended himself from work pending the outcome of the inquiry.

Former AFM commander Carmel Vassallo

What was Bogdanovic arrested for?

On Saturday 29 October at 7pm, Bogdanovic’s wife Alison and her brother Ferdinando Apap filed a report to the Rabat police in Gozo, over a threat the footballer made via SMS. The contents of the SMS were not published, but the inquiry describes it as a “serious threat” – one which Bogdanovic later told police he had “no intention of carrying out” Alison Bogdanovic said her husband had pointed a firearm to her face in the past and threw  a ventilator fan at her; her husband denied the accusation, saying she had once brandished a knife at him. She also said she had been scared of filing police reports earlier on.

THE ANALYSIS • The Bogdanovic inquiry shows a police force wedded to men of influence ‘Labour ‘person of trust’ Jesmond Zammit, the Xewkija Tigers coach, called the most amenable police boss he could find. Because he could do so’

What did the police do?

Police inspector Edel Mary Camilleri arrested Bogdanovic, and seized an unloaded revolver he kept in his bedroom commode together with bullets, as well as a rifle he kept behind the sofa in the living room. On his arrest, Bogdanovic contacted Xewkija Tigers FC president Jeffrey Farrugia.

Insp. Camilleri agreed with Magistrate Joanne Vella Cuschieri that Bogdanovic would be arraigned under arrest on Monday morning, just a few hours short of the maximum 48-hour detention period. But on Sunday 30 October, Bogdanovic was released on police bail at 10:30am, and that afternoon on 3pm he played for Xewkija against Kercem.

Jesmond Zammit: the ministry official who contacted AC Carmelo Magri after Daniel Bogdanovic was arrested. He wanted the midfielder to play the Sunday match for Xewkija Tigers, which he coaches.

Did someone really ask that Bogdanovic be released?

On this the inquiry cannot give a definite verdict, but Insp. Camilleri gave Bogdanovic police bail after phone calls from her superior Assistant Commissioner Carmelo Magri in Malta, and a conversation on Sunday morning with Gozo superintendent Antonello Grech.

What is proven, thanks to recorded phone calls on the police system, is that Ian Borg’s chief of staff and Xewkija coach Jesmond Zammit inquired about the arrest with AC Magri, who on Saturday evening obliged by calling Insp. Camilleri and asked her to speak to the magistrate so that Bogdanovic could be arraigned in court on Sunday morning instead – the implication being that Bogdanovic would be granted conditional release and make the match on Sunday.

Carmelo Magri (third from left)

Did that happen?

No: Insp. Camilleri was told by Magistrate Vella Cuschieri that Bogdanovic would be arraigned on Monday morning, and AC Magri repeated this to Zammit himself, proving that a ministry official – as reported by MaltaToday – had spoken to police top brass, and circumstantially, inquiring whether Bogdanovic could be released in time for the Sunday kick-off.

Sunday, 30 October, 3pm kick-off against Kercem. Bogdanovic plays.

Was the police bail within the law?

Yes it was: Insp. Camilleri had ensured the safety of the wife, seized the weapons, and only had to check on Bogdanovic’s police record on Monday when the police office reopened. Supt. Grech told the inquiry that it was customary in such cases not to keep a person under arrest for the entire 48-hour period if the investigation was completed, and this is what Grech was reported as having told Camilleri on Sunday morning, suggesting that keeping Bogdanovic under arrest until Monday morning was “against the spirit of the law”.

Why did Insp. Camilleri want to keep Bogdanovic under arrest?

Primarily because she had agreed with Magistrate Vella Cuschieri that he be kept under arrest up until his arraignment on Monday morning. But she also told the inquiry that she wanted the courts to issue a protection order for Alison Bogdanovic and her children, which meant presenting Daniel Bogdanovic under arrest in court – and not by the procedure of notification, which would have taken weeks to see the accused appear in court.

Magistrate Joanne Vella Cuschieri

What led her to change her mind?

The inquiry says Insp. Camilleri was placed in a quandary, “conflicted”, because she had already received the phone-call from AC Magri, suggesting that Bogdanovic could be arraigned on Sunday morning; but on Sunday morning she had a ‘conversation’ with Supt. Grech, which she took as a form of “warning”. The contents of this conversation as relayed to the inquiry have not been published, but Carmel Vassallo says that this conversation “struck [him] particularly” and that it was the “determining factor” that led to the police bail, and suggested that what was stated in the conversation be relayed to police administration and the Attroney general for further review.

Do we know what was said to Insp. Camilleri?

Not with certainty, but it was made clear to her that Bogdanovic had a match to play in the afternoon.

So was the police bail wrong?

Technically, it was within the law; but Carmel Vassallo says it was strange that the police bail took place without the Magistrate’s consent after she had agreed to have Bogdanovic kept under arrest up until Monday morning. He also said that if it was necessary to get the courts issue a protection order, it did not make sense to release him from arrest when he was to be arraigned before the lapse of the 48-hour time window. He described the action as “insensitive”, and more importantly, that “the doubts stemming from the fact that a football match had to be played that Sunday afternoon, lingers on in one’s mind.”

What has happened since the publication of the inquiry?

Jesmond Zammit is back to work on today Monday; Bogdanovic will keep facing the charges in court; it is not known whether further action will be taken at top police level.

Gozo minister Anton Refalo

Was Gozo minister Anton Refalo involved in any way?

No. He said so in the House of Representatives and repeated the same to the inquiry. As far as the inquiry could determine, Refalo did not contact the people interviewed.