The Ombudsman said in a judicial protest filed today he failed to understand why the Home Affairs Minister seemed to be refusing to cooperate in his search for the truth about army promotions and was creating obstacles in every way for.

In his protest, against Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia and permanent secretary Kevin Mahoney, the Ombudsman said the ministry is not cooperating in handing over relevant information that he needed to conduct investigations into complaints made by officers regarding army promotions.

A number of allegations made by the minister were baseless. The allegation that the constitutional authority, such as that of the Ombudsman was being partial and prejudiced in the carrying out of its functions was serious and should be immediately and unreservedly withdrawn.

It was even more serious when such an allegation was made by a ministry because it showed there were still some in public administration who were not ready to submit their operations to autonomous and independent scrutiny to ensure good and fair administration.

The Ombudsman was not just a defender of citizens but also to an effective instrument for the improvement of public administration through ensuring an open, transparent, clear and accountable administration at all levels.

The Ombudsman failed to understand why the ministry seemed to be refusing to cooperate in his search for the truth about army promotions and was creating obstacles in every way for.

Such behaviour was unexplainable especially since it was being taken at a time when army officers and soldiers were being given the right to join a union of their choice.

He hoped that common sense and a sense of justice would prevail over all other considerations.

The law, the Ombudsman said, gave soldiers making a complaint the right to submit their complaint before the President but it had to go through the AFM commander and the minister. This was unfair.

He called on the court to hold the minister and the permanent secretary responsible for damages and to request them to provide him with the documents needed for his investigations.