Sandro Camilleri, who has just resigned from the Police Corps, has an interesting story and that is why he’s most probably being monitored by the security services as they watch him closely in anticipation of a potential wrong move. The head of the Police’s Financial Crimes Investigations Department knows a lot of things that can embarrass Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa and our politicians, but so far he is staying silent. The government is probably offering him a public contract to buy his silence.
Sandro Camilleri is a Laburist sal-Mewt from the deep Mintoffian south of Santa Lu?ija. We know him well – Labourites. I have also known him well for a long time as a police officer. What’s interesting about him, is that despite being known as a trusted Labourite by his masters, Sandro Camilleri was genuinely furious at Joseph Muscat, his friends, and many other criminals who got away with it like Christian Borg, and he actually tried to do something about. Only when gradually his masters started to realise that Sandro Camilleri wasn’t very pleased with the rampant impunity that our politicians and organised criminals enjoyed, he started being cut-off and his investigations hampered with many odd inanities.
Sandro Camilleri’s anger stems from the fact that he, as a citizen who obeyed the laws and acted correctly throughout his life, watched in real time, his political heroes abuse their position to become grossly wealthy while the criminals whom he fought against, were enjoying the fruits of rampant impunity. Sandro Camilleri nearly went crazy at one point in time with his existential crisis: imagine being a law-abiding police officer all your life, and suddenly the political heroes whom you were brought up to adore blindly are getting rich by committing the most gross-like acts of corruption.
Sandro Camilleri came as overzealous in his work, even when he was wrong, but that is the right attitude to have as a police officer, something which is becoming ever rarer with the pauperisation of our authorities. I remember him very well as a prosecutor against me shouting and throwing sneers and insults at me and my witnesses as I insulted him back in the courtroom. I have more respect for him than many other police officers who go to court for cases against their suspects with a civil-service formality. Sandro Camilleri was a genuine police officer who liked what he did, something which Angelo Gafa doesn’t have.
He was also a bit stupid at times, flamboyant, and misspoken, but he strived to improve and educate himself, constantly – always studying and taking up new courses, paying for his education himself. Any sane and reasonable police chief would have fought to keep Sandro Camilleri in the Corps, instead, Angelo Gafa bullied and threatened him.
Some Police Officers blame him for the lackluster performance of the FCID, but in reality, the FCID never did anything without the direct permission of Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa, whose micromanagement of the Corps is suspicious at best. The lack of resources that is also intended for is also another dysfunctional issue. Gafa is more worried about keeping his job and paying his monthly 3,000 loan so the dysfunction and pauperisation of the Police that abet organised crime and impunity helps him stay in his job. With Sandro Camilleri out of the way, Angelo Gafa can be more at rest than none of his officers will rock the boat.
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