PM denies Norman Vella was arrested

From TIMES OF MALTA.COM

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this morning denied that former TV presenter Norman Vella was arrested yesterday when he was questioned by the police for allegedly taking pictures of two senior government officials as they passed through passport control.

Questioned this morning, Dr Muscat said he did not wish to comment on personal cases, but the information given by the police was that Mr Vella was not arrested, but he was questioned as part of an investigation.

Mr Vella is denying the allegations made against him.  Speaking to timesofmalta.com Mr Vella, who works as an immigration officer at the airport, said that he was held by the police at his place of work.

He was investigated for allegedly taking a photo of Kurt Farrugia and Ramona Attard, communications coordinators at the Office of the Prime Minister and the Home Affairs Ministry respectively, at the airport. The two officials were on their way to London Heathrow.

A government source said Mr Vella was caught on CCTV cameras by the police taking a photo in an area where photos cannot be taken.

In a brief statement, the police said they were investigating an alleged breach of airport security regulations by an immigration official. They said the official took photos of passengers in a restricted area, for which the police are responsible.

The police said that after they examined CCTV footage, the official was asked for an explanation.
Mr Farrugia said Ms Attard and himself were unaware of what happened and only got to know about the incident on their arrival in London.

Mr Vella said the police are investigating him for allegedly taking the photo and publishing it on blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia’s website earlier today.

He denied the claims and  said he did not know what pictures the police were talking about. “They want to investigate my mobile. I cannot understand why they want my mobile because I also have personal information on it.”

Mr Vella said he has been suspended from work as from tomorrow. However he was later told he could return to work.

Mr Vella said he wants an investigation of whoever filed a false report against him.

Ms Caruana Galizia is insisting that she did not receive any photos from Mr Vella and there were never any photos uploaded with the two articles that spoke of the government officials who were on their way for training in the UK.

Earlier this month, Mr Vella instituted a case before the Employment Commission against the Prime Minister and the Principal Permanent Secretary claiming political discrimination in the way he was re-deployed from PBS.

He was deployed to PBS in August 2012 ‘on grounds of public policy’. He was on unpaid leave, during which time he worked as production manager for programmes which also included Xarabank and Bijografiji.

Mr Vella said that since he instituted the case, the Government was trying to get at him in every way possible.

There were also many speculations including that he wanted to be an MEP candidate with the Nationalist Party but the party did not want him, he said.