No record of any Security Service spying in prison meeting rooms - minister
State respects confidentiality of lawyer-client meetings
The Security Service has no record of any spying in the prison's meeting rooms, the justice minister insisted on Monday.
He was reacting to statements by the Chamber of Advocates that it had sworn testimonies from two people claiming that the service had recorded conversations in multiple meeting rooms reserved for high-risk individuals at the prisons.
"The argument needs to be about the facts. Did this happen, or not? Not if it happened, but whether it actually happened, yes or no," Clifton Grima told journalists outside Parliament.
The minister said the state stood by the concept that conversations between lawyers and their clients were privileged. The point at issue between the government and the chamber was whether secret recording had actually taken place.
He insisted there were no recordings of privileged conversations between the lawyers and their clients.
When asked if the Security Service could have heard something before the recordings were switched off, Grima said the service has no records of such activities.