Police do not believe a crime was committed when the Wikipedia page of Council of Europe special rapporteur Pieter Omtzigt was manipulated by a computer within a Maltese government ministry, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camillieri has revealed.

Last October, Omtzigt, who has written damning reports on the rule of law in Malta and the circumstances surrounding the Daphne Caruana Galizia investigation, discovered his Wikipedia page had been changed to say he had paid Russia for false information.

An investigation revealed that the IP address of the computer who manipulated the page came directly from a Maltese government ministry.

During parliament, MP Claudette Buttigieg asked Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri whether the police had launched an investigation into the pressing claims and if they had identified which ministry was the culprit.

Instead, Camilleri simply disclosed that the police did inquire further but did not find “any elements that constitute a criminal act”.

The relationship between Omtzigt and the Maltese government has been confrontational, with the state launching aggressive counterattacks whenever details of his report emerged.

“This MP had tried to say that victims of the MH17 passenger aircraft shot down by a Russian missile over Ukraine (17 July 2014) were actually shot down the Ukrainians,” Prime Minister Joseph Muscat once said.

The claim would be a regular go-to insult by Muscat’s administration whenever Omtzigt would criticise Malta.

Despite the government’s resistance, Omtzigt’s report eventually led to the Council of Europe forcing Malta to launch an independent and impartial public inquiry, which continues later today.