Next police commissioner should be appointed by a two-thirds majority, Beppe Fenech Adami insists

The next police commissioner should be appointed by a two-thirds majority in parliament, shadow home affairs minister Beppe Fenech Adami told MaltaToday.

Fenech Adami criticised Prime Minister Robert Abela for appointing assistant police commissioner, Carmelo Magri, as acting police commissioner without consulting the Opposition, following the resignation of Lawrence Cutajar. 

The shadow minister for home affairs told MaltaToday that quite apart from Abela's rhetoric, now was the time to prove himself. 

"He appointed the acting police commissioner without consulting the Opposition. Now we expect that the next police commissioner be chosen in full consultation with the Opposition and with two-thirds of parliamentary approval," Fenech Adami said.

He added that former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar's resignation was two years too late and that such a resignation, late as it may be, finally vindicated the PN.

"We were right. Cutajar has been incompetent and refusing to investigate even when there was sufficient proof to launch an inquiry. He refused to investigate the Panama Papers, the FIAU reports, allegations on Keith Schembri and allegations on Pilatus Bank," Fenech Adami told MaltaToday.

This means, he said, that Malta paid the highest price for the government's inaction for over two years. 

Malta had to wait all this time to change Police Commissioner who acted as puppet for @MaltaGov. @MaltaPolice should be given back the respect it deserves. @RobertAbela_MT accepting our proposal for a new Commissioner to be appointed by two-thirds of Parliament is the next step.

— Adrian Delia (@adriandeliapn) January 17, 2020

On Twitter, Opposition leader Adrian Delia said that the government had plenty of time to change the Police Commissioner "who acted as a puppet" for over two years. Delia said he expects Abela to accept the PN's proposal for a new commissioner to be appointed by two-thirds of parliament.

A PN statement published on Friday read that Cutajar's incompetence and inaction continued to manifest itself when in recent days, there were revelations in court and the media, that showed that there were major leakages in the investigation between people who are implicated in the assassination.