Court grants temporary injunction against auction of police weapons and vehicles

A judge this afternoon upheld an injunction halting an auction of police weapons and vehicles, planned to be held between tomorrow and Saturday after a protest was filed claiming a rule prohibiting public officers from bidding for any item is "discriminatory, arbitrary and illegal".

The auction of weapons and police vehicles, planned for tomorrow and Saturday has been suspended after a court granted an injunction to the Police Association, which is protesting against a rule that prohibits public officers from bidding for the items.

The association together with public officers Malcolm Bondin and Frankie Sammut are claiming that they wish to bid for the items on auction but that this was not possible for the sole reason that they were public officers.

In total some 129 ex-service vehicles and nearly 800 weapons, including pistols from the 1912-1913 First Balkan War, which had either been issued to police officers or which had been impounded as part of investigations, were planned to be sold by auction to collectors over the two day period.

Public officers, however, are automatically excluded from the auction and prospective buyers are required to sign a declaration stating that they are not public officers before being allowed to bid.

This last requirement led the Police Association and the two public officers to apply for the injunction claiming that it was not based on any provision of law and was, therefore illegal.

Their request for the court to stop the auctions from taking place was provisionally granted by the Judge Joseph Zammit McKeon who set a date for a hearing next week to listen to submissions from both parties.

Lawyer Robert Abela signed the application.