Several top Police officers have a very different perspective of George Hyzler from that which has been projected in the press through his activity as Commissioner for Standards in Public Life. Although, his reports led to the resignation of two government ministers, several high-profile police officers argue that George Hyzler cleverly sabotaged their prosecution against Justyne Caruana. Several previous high-profile prosecutors also agree with the police’s legal opinion of George Hyzler’s way of handling procedures.
Firstly, one important fact needs to be established in this story. Prime Minister Robert Abela and George Hyzler are friends and Robert Abela is being consciously deceiving when he criticises George Hyzler over his report on Justyne Caruana. According to the Police, George Hyzler never actually submitted his report to the Police and only published it online. The Police accessed Hyzler’s report online, just like everyone else did.
When the Police requested the full chain of evidence that was gathered in Hyzler’s investigation on Justyne Caruana, Hyzler refused to hand over the evidence and provided them only with the summaries. Hyzler invoked the Standards Commission law to ascertain that the Commissioner’s evidence was confidential and that the Police had to produce their own evidence. The Police don’t agree with Hyzler’s position on this matter.
According to the Police, who had also sought the legal opinion of the Attorney General’s office on this matter, Hyzler even conducted his procedure irregularly in a way that led to the charges against Justyne Caruana of having a private interest in providing a contract to her boyfriend eventually becoming prescribed by law (articles 124 and 125 of the criminal code). Hyzler erred in his procedure when he continued his investigation on Justyne Caruana when it appeared to him that a criminal offense had been committed. According to the Standards Commission law, George Hyzler was obliged to refer the investigation to the Police which would have automatically triggered a criminal investigation. George Hyzler didn’t do this. Article 22 of the Standards Commission law (Chapter 570) states that:
Clearly, Hyzler didn’t follow this procedure and as a result, Justyne Caruana was temporally spared of a criminal prosecution. Robert Abela is now lying and deceiving the public that Hyzler referred his report to the Police and was cruel against her. Apart from having failed to submit his report and evidence to the Police, Police officers, and prosecutors are now arguing that George Hyzler cleverly misused his procedure to sabotage a prosecution against Justyne Caruana.
Undoubtedly, the Police could have used their executive authority to challenge Hyzler’s interpretation of the law and proceed with a criminal prosecution nonetheless in a whatever it takes attitude, but in an environment where criminal justice is being distorted in a pseudo-civil service and robotic manner, without the support of Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa, the Police were left helpless and rather unarmed against a government and a Standards Commissioner who were not taking their side. Some may argue, that when all of this is taken into consideration George Hyzler and his law firm were perfectly co-opted into the Labour Party’s rent-seeking regime.
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