Lawrence Cutajar

Lawrence Cutajar (born 5 March 1960 in Luqa) is a Maltese policeman, and served as commissioner of the Malta Police Force from 2016 to 2020.[1]

Biography

Cutajar read for a Diploma in Law and Administration at the University of Malta. In February 1979 he joined the Malta Police Force as a Constable. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in September 1983, before graduating as an Inspector a year later. Cutajar achieved the rank of Superintendent in 2000.[2]

Throughout his career, Cutajar worked mainly in district policing, serving also with other sections of the Police such as the Command and Control Room, Airport Security, Vice Squad and Intelligence.[2]

In February 2014, Cutajar was appointed Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Police Immigration Branch. On 27 April 2016 he was promoted to head the Police as Acting Commissioner. On 1 August 2016 Prime Minister Joseph Muscat officially appointed him as Commissioner of Police.[2]

Following the handling of Egrant and Pilatus Bank investigations since 2016, Cutajar was called on to resign by opposition and civil society groups multiple times.[3][4] He claimed that the only time he thought about resigning was when a police constable was grievously injured in a hit-and-run incident in 2018.[5] He declared himself proud of the low levels of crime in Malta.[6]

As a result of the 2019 Malta political crisis and at the request of the new prime Minister Robert Abela, Cutajar announced his resignation on 17 January 2020.[7]

On the day of his resignation as commissioner, Lawrence Cutajar signed a contract to become a part time consultant with the Home Affairs Ministry at a salary of €31,040 p.a., compared to his previous full time salary of €37,946 as police commissioner.[8] The consultancy contract was terminated in June 2020 after revelations in court linked to Yorgen Fenech and the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder.[9]

Cutajar is the recipient of the Long and Efficient Service medal with two clasps, denoting more than 37 years of active police service. He is married with two children.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar resigns". Times of Malta. 17 January 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Pulizija.Gov.Mt". Archived from the original on 2018-08-21. Retrieved 2019-01-20.
  3. ↑ Newsbook
  4. ↑ Sustainable Goals
  5. ↑ Independent
  6. ↑ Times of Malta
  7. ↑ "Malta's police chief resigns amid government reshuffle". euronews. 17 January 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  8. ↑ Schembri, Gabriel (14 May 2020). "Cutajar became 'consultant' same day he left police commissioner role". the shiftiness.
  9. ↑ "'I appointed Lawrence Cutajar as consultant based on what I knew about him then' – Camilleri". independent.com. 16 June 2020.
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