A battle for access to documents linked to the government's decision to appoint Silvio Valletta to the board of the FIAU hit another hurdle on Tuesday when a tribunal decided that it will only start hearing witnesses in September.
NGO Repubblika filed the case for access to information two years ago, on March 23, 2020
On Tuesday, the Information and Data Protection Appeals Tribunal ordered the government to present witnesses at a sitting on September 13.
[attach id=1211737 size="medium" align="left" type="image"]Silvio Valletta in his days as deputy police commissioner.[/attach]
Valletta, a former deputy police commissioner, was appointed to the board of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) by the finance ministry despite concerns over his impartiality, given that he was married to then-parliamentary secretary Justyne Caruana.
Concerns over Valletta’s appointment to the sensitive position were also raised during the public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Valletta stepped down from the police in 2019. Nearly a year later Times of Malta exposed his close relationship with Yorgen Fenech, the man accused of complicity in the assassination.
Repubblika is seeking a list of the names that had been put forward to the finance ministry along with Valletta’s when the position became available in January 2013.
The NGO’s request for information was first sent from the ministry to the police, which twice refused it.
The Information and Data Protection Commissioner then investigated the matter in February 2021 and ordered the authorites to hand over redacted documents.
But it turned out that the documents handed over to the NGO consisted of lists of names, with all the names blacked out.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Repubblika President Robert Aquilina argued that the documents handed over were essentially useless.
The appeal however will not weigh into the merits of the case until the next sitting, which will also be the first to hear witnesses.
When asked why the case was being deferred until September, the board’s chairman said that “in July everyone needs a little rest”.
Repubblika argues that failure to supply it with the documents that would allow it to participate in a public debate on matters of public importance and to hold government to account, is a violation of EU law.