Arrested councillor strip-searched over accusation of misuse of laptop

Sliema Labour councillor Martin Debono said he was humiliated by police when he was ordered to strip naked at the Floriana headquarters, where he was questioned over the alleged misuse of a laptop computer belonging to the council.

Debono was arrested with other Sliema and St Julian’s councillors, among them former Sliema mayor Nikki Dimech, on Friday evening.

He is now under police bail, a directive that does not require a court order and which prevents Debono from leaving the country.

“I was arrested by plain-clothes police officers and taken to the police station at night. And right before I was questioned, I was strip-searched. They said it was procedure but they wouldn’t tell me what I was being accused of,” Debono said.

Debono said that the Sliema councillors arrested – Dimech, Yves Calì, and himself – were the same ones who gave evidence in court against Stephen Buhagiar, the personal driver of Nationalist MP Robert Arrigo. Buhagiar had earlier last year claimed Dimech asked him for bribes on a council works contract he had been awarded.

“I told the officers this was a frame-up intended to besmirch my good name,” Debono said, claiming his ordeal at the hands of interrogators was unbefitting of somebody accused of using a council laptop for his personal use.

Debono was arrested on Friday evening at 7:30pm. Earlier, at 7pm, Nationalist councillor Yves ‘Bobby’ Calì had already been arrested outside the offices unbeknownst by the other councillors. “I had noticed the police gathering outside the council offices before… Mayor Johanna Gonzi said they were there for her protection,” Debono said.

Two plain-clothes officers approached Debono as he emerged from the council offices, and read out a warrant arresting him on several counts.

“They refused to stop me off at my house to get a jacket or use the bathroom. When we arrived at the Sliema police station I asked them what they wanted me to talk about, and they said it had to do with a council laptop.

“They told me that if I cooperate I would be let out in 30 minutes’ time. I was taken to the police headquarters in Floriana, where they led me downstairs to use a telephone so that I contact my lawyer. As soon as I got off the phone I was led back up by an officer, and ordered to hand over all my belongings and asked if I had any sickness or if I was on medication.

“And they ordered me to remove all my clothes off. I was in a vest and underpants and again, they told me to drop my underwear. When I asked why they said it was ‘strict procedure’. They took my belt and shoestrings.”

Debono was given his clothes back and taken to the police inspector’s office. “Inspector Angelo Gafà was asking me questions about the laptop and as soon as I finish my answers he accused me of saying ‘lies… all lies’. So he ordered the officers to lock me up downstairs.”

Debono says he was incredulous as he was handed a pillow case and a blanket, and locked up in what he says was a freezing room. “I was under shock. I asked if there was a larger cell since I was feeling claustrophobic. I was moved to another cell but the walls were mouldy, the mattress was all worn out and it had a bad stench. There was no toilet paper and I was given a few pieces from another roll.”

Debono says the police were understanding when he asked to be taken back to the cell since it was in a better condition. “The only good thing is that the staff in the cell area were decent people doing their best.”

At around 11:40pm, Debono was handed a pizza brought to the depot by his wife. “Since opening the doors takes a lot of keys and locks to open, they folded the pizza in a roll and squashed it through the cell window. I was also given my Nexxium pills, but since I said I would take them only when I eat, they were taken away because they demanded I only take them in the presence of a police officer.

“So by then I was left without both my Nexxium pills or the panadol I had requested. I later learnt that my wife also brought me a jacket and extra clothes, and even drinking water, but for some reason they were not given to me.”

Debono says he did not sleep, and that he was still detained at 8am. He spent the rest of the day until 12pm, under arrest.

“One of the officers – the ‘good cop’ – told me they were going to search my house. So I was taken back home, where I grabbed a jacket, and then taken back to the police depot,” Debono said.

The councillor said that the police also demanded to made a statement. “But it is ‘their’ statement they want me to make… I told them I wasn’t going to sign a statement that is not mine. So I was put back in the cell.”

At 7:30pm the day after he was arrested, Debono was told he could leave. “I was told on police bail – I asked them what it was.”

Debono learnt that he could not go abroad thanks to the powers handed to the police to commit people summoned to the depot for questioning, on a special form of bail that requires no court order.