Pjazza host Stagno Navarra demands police investigation on Karol Aquilina

One TV host Karl Stagno Navarra, presenter of Labour’s propaganda-lite current affairs programme Pjazza, has given notice that he will file a request with the courts to force a police investigation on Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina for running a red light. 

Stagno Navarra wrote to the acting police commissioner to request an investigation into a dashcam footage of Aquilina driving his car, in which the MP is seen refusing instructions from two police motor-escorts to make way for a foreign delegation on its way to Valletta for a government meeting. 

The 3 June 2019 footage captures Aquilina gesticulating at police officers on their motorbikes as they appear to instruct him to give way to a foreign dignitary making their way to Valletta. 

Stagno Navarra says the footage shows Aquilina deliberately positioning his car as a hindrance to the dignitary’s vehicle, changing lane purposely, and then running a red light. 

Stagno Navarra also alleges that Aquilina effected a dangerous manoeuvre that imperilled one of the police officers. 

“This footage is a clear proof of a series of traffic offences by the Hon. Aquilina as well as against the police. Similar footage of dangerous driving on social media has previously seen the respective motorists being identified and charged in court. In this case, months have passed and no action has been taken against Aquilina,” Stagno Navarra said. 

Stagno Navarra also insists that the charges against Aquilina were first issued, and then expunged, and that Aquilina has never answered to any questioning at the police depot. 

“In a democratic society, the cancellation of these charges creates a sense of impunity for anyone who occupies a role in public life, especially with this clear evidence at hand,” Stagno Navarra wrote in his letter to the acting police commission. 

Stagno Navarra said that if the police does not proceed with an investigation, he will petition the law courts to force the investigation.

Karol Aquilina has denied the allegations, and has accused Stagno Navarra of doing the bidding of Prime Minister Robert Abela and a high-ranking police official as blackmail for his work against corruption on former PM Joseph Muscat and his former chief of staff Keith Schembri.