Police Commissioner gets court ultimatum to find Gozitan untraceable for five years

Magistrate loses patience after police fail to notify Nadur man for five whole years to appear in court on charges relating to the payment of employees' National Insurance and FSS • Man is untraceable in an island that is just 67 square kilometres in size

Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar will have to explain why his officers could not find a man for five years unless they do so by May
Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar will have to explain why his officers could not find a man for five years unless they do so by May

The Police Commissioner has been ordered to appear in person before a magistrate and explain why his officers have been unable to notify by summons a man from Nadur for a staggering five years.

Magistrate Ian Farrugia made the unusual pronouncement on Wednesday morning after a case filed by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue against a Peter Paul Muscat from Gozo continued. Muscat is accused of failing to pay his contribution to his employees' National Insurance and FSS.

Police say they cannot find him and his family members claim not to know his whereabouts and that his ID card information is out of date.

The magistrate was irritated by the fact that the police had not succeeded in finding the man on an island 67 square kilometres in area and serving him with his summons for over five years.

"This time the court feels it should not concede further to the competent authority who is the Commissioner of Police," Farrugia said in a decree delivered this morning. "The order of the court is now clear; either the accused will appear for the next sitting on 9 May 2018 or the Commissioner of Police will appear personally, to explain how Peter Paul Muscat allegedly cannot be traced on the little island that is Gozo."

Lawyer Vanessa Grech appeared for the Commissioner of Inland Revenue.