The Education Ministry has fired the person responsible for manipulating the Wikipedia page of Council of Europe special rapporteur Pieter Omtzigt, who authored a highly critical report on rule of law in Malta and the Daphne Caruana Galizia investigation.

The person, Minister Owen Bonnici said, worked within the Education Ministry for a number of years.

Last October, Omtzigt discovered his Wikipedia page had been changed to say he had paid Russia for false information.

An investigation revealed that the IP address of the computer who manipulated the page came directly from a Maltese government ministry.

The person was unnamed in the statement. It is as yet unclear why Bonnici’s predecessor, Evarist Bartolo, declined to take action.

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri has revealed that police believe no crime has been committed.

The relationship between Omtzigt and the Maltese government has been confrontational, with the state launching aggressive counterattacks whenever details of his report emerged.

“This MP had tried to say that victims of the MH17 passenger aircraft shot down by a Russian missile over Ukraine (17 July 2014) were actually shot down the Ukrainians,” Prime Minister Joseph Muscat once said.

The claim would be a regular go-to insult by Muscat’s administration whenever Omtzigt would criticise Malta.

Despite the government’s resistance, Omtzigt’s report eventually led to the Council of Europe forcing Malta to launch an independent and impartial public inquiry, which continues later today.