PN calls for minister’s resignation after prison chief’s conviction

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri should step down from his post after former prison director Robert Brincau was convicted of threatening a man on Tuesday, the Nationalist Party has said.

“When news emerged the Prison Director was being charged in Court, the PN had stressed that he should be suspended pending the conclusion of these proceedings,” spokesperson Joe Giglio.

Brincau, 49, was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for three years over the August 2022 incident at Għadira.

Just after the judgment was delivered on Tuesday morning, Brincau resigned his post and the Home Affairs Ministry immediately appointed Christopher Siegersma.

Inspector Ryan Vella had charged Brincau with slight bodily harm, threatening a man with a weapon, insulting and threatening the man, carrying an unlicensed firearm in public, being armed during the commission of an offence and breaching the peace, in connection with the 21 August incident at Għadira Bay.

When Brincau was charged last October, the home affairs minister insisted on sticking by Brincau when doorstepped outside his ministry, saying there was a clear conflict between the version of events put forward by the parties in the case.

“Now that the Prison Director has been found guilty by the Court, his resignation has not detracted from the wrong decision taken by the minister on the day the case emerged,” Giglio said. “That decision further fostered the culture created by the Labour Government where anyone can do what they want without having consequences and without taking responsibility.”

The PN said the politics of impunity has continued to grow, further exacerbating the security risk in Malta.

“Now, the biggest certificate that Minister Byron Camilleri is not fit for purpose was given to him by Robert Abela himself when he stated that he does not even trust his daughter to be alone in Valletta,” he said. “In light of all this, the Nationalist Party feels that there is no other way than minister Byron Camilleri resigning voluntarily, or otherwise be removed from Robert Abela.”