Phone logs request was part of investigation into alleged corruption of witness by police officer

The Police this afternoon defended their decision to request phone logs in the ongoing controversy over a meeting between the Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Home Affairs and a man who was wrongly accused of a hold-up, saying the request was made as part of investigations into alleged attempted corruption of a witness by a police officer. The police were reacting to comments at a press conference yesterday by Nationalist MPs Beppe Fenech Adami and Jason Azzopardi. The Police Commissioner, Peter Paul Zammit, said last week that according to phone logs, it was the family of Darryl Luke Borg which had contacted the Ministry. Mr Borg, his mother and convicted criminal Charles Attard had a meeting with Silvio Scerri a day before being asked to give evidence before the Police Board. Dr Azzopardi, who had insisted that it was the ministry which sought the meeting, also argued yesterday that the Police Commissioner had no right at law to request the phone logs unless he was investigating a crime where the punishment was not below a year imprisonment. In their statement, the Police said that apart from the Police Board investigation into the circumstances leading to the mistaken...