Robert Abela rewarded disgraced police commissioner with consultancy on day of resignation

Disgraced former Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar walked straight into a taxpayer-funded government consultancy on the very day he was forced to resign from the police force, a decision that now continues to haunt one of Prime Minister Robert Abela’s first major appointments after taking office in 2020.

Cutajar’s latest controversial testimony during the ongoing Yorgen Fenech murder trial has revived questions over the consultancy awarded to him on 17 January 2020 –  a few days after Robert Abela was sworn in as prime minister and the same day the former police commissioner was persuaded to step down.

Rather than leaving public office, Cutajar remained on the government payroll without interruption.

Documents previously obtained by The Shift showed that the three-year consultancy, signed by the Home Affairs Ministry under Byron Camilleri, provided Cutajar with an annual financial package exceeding €31,000, including a €9,000 expertise allowance, an €800 communications allowance and the use of a government vehicle.

The appointment was announced within hours of his resignation.

At the time, Minister Byron Camilleri justified the decision by arguing that Cutajar’s decades of policing experience should continue to benefit the government. Yet the immediate transition from police commissioner to government consultant fuelled widespread speculation that the consultancy formed part of an arrangement to facilitate his departure without the political embarrassment of a formal dismissal.

Neither Abela nor his government has ever explained why the consultancy had to be signed on the very day Cutajar resigned.

The appointment drew sharp criticism from civil society and legal observers, who questioned why a commissioner who had lost public confidence was being rewarded with another senior taxpayer-funded role instead of leaving public service.

Cutajar’s resignation came at a time when confidence in the police force had reached historic lows.

Appointed by disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat and his former chief of staff Keith Schembri, he had faced years of criticism over the police force’s failure to investigate serious corruption allegations involving senior government officials, including revelations contained in FIAU reports, as well as its handling of investigations connected to the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

During his testimony this week, Cutajar confirmed that he had accepted the consultancy immediately after leaving office, insisting that the role had been offered to him rather than requested.

The arrangement, however, had quickly unravelled.

Just five months later, the government was forced to suspend the consultancy after explosive testimony in the compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech raised allegations that Cutajar had leaked confidential information.

The contract was formally terminated on 15 June 2020 after a magistrate ordered a criminal investigation.

Fresh revelations emerging from Cutajar’s evidence in court have once again placed Abela’s decision under scrutiny, reviving questions over whether the consultancy was effectively a political reward designed to ease the departure of a police commissioner whose position had become untenable.