Of moles and transfers

Mr Vincent Camilleri's letter (The Sunday Times, November 14) roams all over the place, but fails to provide a coherent answer to either of my two letters. Let us get a few facts straight.

It is true that Mr Camilleri was one of the two Malta-based officers who worked with me when I was Malta's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva. I can assure him that the high regard and trust that he speaks of were mutual.

The only occasion when I felt deeply offended by Mr Camilleri's action was when I was Acting Secretary at the ministry and he was in the minister's private secretariat. He may remember when there was a law case involving Malta Shipbuilding and the owners of a Dutch-registered ship. On that occasion he had phoned me just as Dr Ganado, the lawyer representing this ship, had asked me over the phone for a copy of a document that I had presented in the court earlier that morning. Dr Ganado had every right to have a copy of that public document which I dictated over the telephone.

I presume that Mr Camilleri was following instructions when he was monitoring this telephone call and demanding to know what it was about in a tone that clearly showed that I was not being trusted. However, I expected more civility from an officer who knew me so closely during the long years that he worked under me.

Mr Camilleri is wrong if he assumes that transfers from the ministry when I was Secretary were made only on the basis that the persons concerned were moles. This is clearly shown in the memorandum submitted to Cabinet, and the sworn statement that I presented to the Tribunal Against Injustices.

Mr Camilleri is wrong in assuming that for a General Service officer to be transferred from one section of the government to another he has to be warned or charged with any misconduct. Was he so warned or charged when he was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the first place? If my memory serves me right, I had personally informed Mr Camilleri by phone that he was being transferred from the ministry once he returned from his posting abroad, which was not effected with "incredible speed".

Since Mr Camilleri did not feel the need of having recourse to the Tribunal Against Injustices I do not feel that it is prudent on my part to say anything more, except to reiterate that the reasons for the transfers were varied.

Mr Camilleri refers to my participation in a meeting in Milan which discussed "Security in the Mediterranean". I have nothing to hide. The resulting declaration, bearing my signature among others, was published in The Sunday Times (of Malta) on the same day that Raymond Caruana was buried after being killed by MLP supporters, who were terrorising opponents. That is more than ample justification for participating in that meeting. I am not sorry if that lowered Mr Camilleri's esteem towards me.

Rather than wasting space on the credentials of other participants at that meeting, Mr Camilleri should have shown your readers what parts of that declaration, or of my 3,000-word contribution to the meeting, was wrong.

No one has been able to do so in the 18 years that have passed since then. Instead, criticism has been directed at the organisers. I am responsible for my own actions, and I have never tried to run away from this.

And that leads me to the instances of activities of moles during the socialist administration which Mr Camilleri chose to introduce in his letter. Does he want to imply that I had anything to do with them? If he is, he should have the courage to say so and face the consequences. If not, what relevance have they to my letters? From August 1969 to August 1973 I was posted in Geneva and had no connection, or knowledge, at all, with what was happening between the governments of Malta and Libya.