Updated: Police should investigate allegations of deleted e-mails - Muscat

Allegations that government IT officials deleted e-mails which may be crucial to the investigation into Rita Schembri, the director of the Internal Audit and Investigations Department, should be investigated by the police, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this morning. Speaking during a political activity in Mosta, Dr Muscat referred to allegations that that as soon as word of the investigation became public, IT officials deleted e-mails from computers in Ms Schembri’s government office. He said that this claim should be investigated not just by the auditor general but also by the police. Such a situation, Dr Muscat said, was not tolerable in a European country. “We have to be Europeans in Malta,” he said, adding that Malta also had to be strong in its negotiations with the EU. In a statement in the afternoon, the government said it expected all those who might have any information of irregularities, including the leader of the Opposition, to take such information to the responsible authorities, including the police, so that it could be investigated. The government's position was consistent. Each report and/or allegation had to be investigated by the responsible authorities,...