د . إAEDSRر . س

Abela Removed Security Officials ‘Within Seconds’ After Corruption Claim, But Whistleblower Warns They Are Trying To Expose His Identity

Article Featured Image

Prime Minister Robert Abela has said he removed two of his police security details immediately after hearing they could have breached the confidentiality of a whistleblower in a police investigation involving corruption and theft.

“I didn’t choose my security detail, I inherited them,” Abela told Lovin Malta at a press conference today. “The moment there was a scent of wrongdoing, I removed them within seconds.”

The alleged wrongdoing itself remains unknown but it appears to involve the traffic branch of the police force, where Abela’s two former security details used to work at and where they have since been transferred back to.

In an anonymous email, someone who appears to be a whistleblower said that the investigation concerns “large-scale corruption and theft” and suggested the Prime Minister likely removed them from his security detail avoid another scandal.

However, the author went on to warn that these two people have since been informed of the investigation and are now trying to uncover his identity.

“The Acting Commissioner is fully aware of the level of investigation, and may I add that all efforts are being made so as to uncover my identity. The reason for this I don’t know, but trust me I am no walkover and know the real reason why.”

He later wrote that: “Fingers have already started to be pointed and now there is a high risk on the safety and security of the whistleblower and his family.”

“One then asks what the Whistleblower Act is all about, and at what absurd level the police force has brought itself to,” the email reads. “Shame on you all. All you want is to cover up corruption! Scandal after scandal!

The person closed off the email by claiming that a person the Prime Minister had personally requested to be in his escort is the “mastermind” behind all this.

The email was sent to Abela himself, as well as to deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, high-ranking police officers, journalists, the Whistleblower Department at the Home Affairs Ministry and PN MPs Simon Busuttil and Jason Azzopardi.

Azzopardi published it this afternoon, with the question: ‘What the heck is going on in the Police Corps?”

The email, which appears to be written by the whistleblower, speaks of two police officers within the traffic branch who had until recently formed part of the Prime Minister’s security. The author warned that the officers were informed of the investigation, which apparently concerns “large-scale corruption and theft”, and that they set about trying to uncover the whistleblower’s identity, placing the person in question and his family in high risk.

“One then asks what the Whistleblower Act is all about, and at what absurd level the police force has brought itself to,” the email reads. “Shame on you all. All you want is to cove rep corruption! Scandal after scandal!

The person closed off the email by claiming that a person the Prime Minister had personally requested to be in his escort is the “mastermind” behind all this.

In a brief statement, the police confirmed that an investigation has been launched into these allegations.

READ NEXT: Malta's New Police Commissioner Will Be Chosen After Public Call, With Abela Rubbishing Two-Thirds Parliamentary Approval

Julian is the former editor of Lovin Malta and has a particular interest in politics, the environment, social issues, and human interest stories.

You may also love

View All