Zurrieq mayor questioned at Police HQ

Zurrieq mayor Ignatius Farrugia refused to confirm or deny whether the Police questioned him in relation to his connections with PC99 Mario Portelli.

Sunday newspaper Illum is informed that the Labour Zurrieq mayor was interrogated at the Police depot in Floriana in relation to new information whiech emerged in relation to the revelations by PC99 Mario Portelli which led to the arrest of of former Police inspector David Gatt.

Portelli was held in connection with new investigations related to David Gatt, who has been indicted over serious crime.

The charges against Gatt, now a lawyer, are based on evidence given by PC99 Mario Portelli, formerly Gatt's friend.

Portelli is said to have been made to confront Gatt during interrogations, and was repeatedly challenged to come clean on his role in a number of unsolved cases.

The constable's evidence has been severely dented in court, after his statements were repeatedly challenged, and prosecutors admitted that most of what he told them during their investigations on David Gatt had not been corroborated.

Gatt has been indicted for masterminding a series of crimes which include the theft of more than €1 million from HSBC Bank in Balzan in December 2007, the shoot-out with police during the failed heist on HSBC's operations centre in Qormi in June 2010, the failed heist on a security van carrying €2.8 million in cash last in 2009, and the attempted hold-up on a jeweller in Attard in December 2010.

Read more in today's edition of Illu