FOI Tribunal Substitute Chair Praises Joseph Muscat, Says Vision ‘Leaves Him Breathless’
The substitute chairperson of the Information and Data Protection Appeals Tribunal has publicly praised Joseph Muscat and called out critics of the former Prime Minister.
Noel Camilleri chairs the IDPA, a quasi-judicial body which rules on complaints pertaining to freedom of information requests, as a substitute for Anna Mallia.
Camilleri publicly praised Muscat under a Facebook post the former Prime Minister wrote about his dealings with Azerbaijan after the European Commission struck a gas deal with the South Caucuses nation.
“We will probably have to wait a long, long time until they admit that they don’t have a vision like you did, Dr Muscat,” Camilleri wrote in a dig at the former Prime Minister’s critics.
“However, your vision leaves us breathless.”
As substitute chair of the IDPA, Camilleri has the power to order the disclosure or deny the disclosure of government information that may be beneficial or damning to Muscat.
His comment was flagged by Repubblika president Robert Aquilina, who warned it was unbefitting of his constitutional role, which requires a politically impartial judicial reviewer.
Indeed, Aquilina noted that he himself appeared in front of Camilleri only a few hours before Camilleri posted his Facebook comment.
This was after the Police Commissioner turned down a Freedom of Information request filed by Repubblika to disclose the full list of the police’s nominees to the Financial Intelligence and Analysis Unit’s (FIAU) board of governors, a list that would include the eventual appointee, former deputy commissioner Silvio Valletta.
Repubblika filed two original FOI requests back in 2020, both of which were rejected, and in 2021 it turned to the Information and Data Protection Commissioner which ordered the authorities to hand over redacted documents.
However, the names of nominees on the documents were blacked out, with Repubblika then proceeding to the next step, an appeal in front of IDPA.
During an IDPA sitting on Tuesday, Camilleri ordered the government to start presenting witnesses on 13th September, dismissing Aquilina’s request to hold the sitting earlier by arguing that “everyone needs to rest in August”.
Lovin Malta has asked Justice Minister Jonathan Attard whether he considers Camilleri’s comment to be acceptable and whether he trusts him to deliver politically impartial judgments on FOI issues.
The sluggish nature of the FOI procedure poses a major problem for citizens, including journalists, seeking information from the government that they believe is in the public interest.
Last year, the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry recommended a revision of the FOI Act to limit the cases in which the government arbitrarily refuses to provide information that is of interest.
“The culture of confidentiality and secrecy under the pretext of privacy or commercial prejudice has little to do with democracy when it comes to the administration of the common good which must always be transparent and accountable,” the board said.
Besides charing the FOI tribunal, Camilleri is also a member of the Employment Commission, which rules on cases of alleged political discrimination at workplaces.
Former presenter Norman Vella said he appeared in front of Camilleri last week as part of a longstanding case involving alleged political discrimination in the public sector by Joseph Muscat.
“If you ask me whether I can be at peace that [Camilleri] will treat my case impartially, the answer is that I absolutely don’t. I hope I’m wrong but time will tell,” Vella wrote.
Cover photo: Left: Noel Camilleri (Photo: Facebook – Noel Camilleri), Right: Joseph Muscat (Photo: Facebook – Joseph Muscat)
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