A Whistleblower Act offering protection to employees who report illegalities and wrongdoing at work, be it in the public or private sector, was published yesterday.
The draft law, which needs to be approved by Parliament, protects whistleblowers from disciplinary action, retribution, discrimination and civil or criminal court action.
It also gives a wide definition of the illegalities that an employee can report, including corruption, threats to public health and safety, environmental damage, criminal acts and injustice.
The Bill was presented to the media yesterday by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, who piloted the law, as part of a wider drive to combat corruption.
The Whistleblower Act will apply retroactively: An em-ployee will have security of protection if he reports a crime that happened in the past and which is not time-barred at law.
The law does not give immunity from prosecution to a whistleblower who perpetrated the crime or was an accomplice to it.
Every government department and entity, private company and voluntary organisation has to appoint a whistleblower official, who would receive the allegations. If, however, the organisation has no official in place, a whistleblower can report to an external reporting agency depending on the type of crime.
The identity of whistleblowers is also protected but anonymous reports will not be permitted.
The government yesterday also proposed changes to the Permanent Commission Against Corruption, intended to give it more teeth as the country’s corruption watchdog.
A major change is the appointment of a special prosecutor answerable to the Commission who will head corruption investigations.
Changes to the law will also widen the remit of the Commission to be able to investigate claims of corruption in the private sector. The definition of corruption will be extended to actions by companies and legal entities apart from individuals.
Dr Gonzi said that good governance was essential for the country’s economic and social development, priding his government on various initiatives such as the Ombudsman, a new law to review administrative action and legislation against money laundering.
He gave no deadline by when he expected Parliament to debate the Whistleblower Act and changes to the Permanent Commission Against Corruption Act.
“I want the changes to be ushered in quickly because they are important but at the same time I do not want to cut the discussion short,” Dr Gonzi said, insisting the two laws were on the agenda of Parliament’s Select Committee before the opposition withdrew from it earlier this year.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici said the Whistleblower Act had been drafted after a careful review of foreign legislation and experience abroad, which showed the difficulties whistleblowers encountered.
“We wanted to avoid certain problems by also giving the whistleblower a right to institute a civil court case at no cost to stop any actions against him by the employer,” the Home Affairs Minister said.
Whistleblower Act
• The Act provides protection to whistleblowers in the public and private sectors including the voluntary sector.
• No civil or criminal action or disciplinary measures can be taken against someone who reveals sensitive information that indicates wrongdoing, malpractice or an illegality by a superior or somebody else at the place of work.
• The law does not grant immunity to the person revealing the information if he performed the illegality or was an accomplice to it.
• The whistleblower’s identity cannot be revealed by the official receiving the protected information unless the person consents or the official feels it is reasonable to do so, on a number of grounds.
• A whistleblower is protected if he is bona fide and reasonably believes that the allegation or information is true. Whistle blowing is forbidden if it is done for personal gain.
• Legal information covered by the Professional Secrets Act is not covered by the Whistleblower Act.
• Each government entity or private company can appoint its own whistleblower official and publish a set of guidelines on how reports are filed. If no official is appointed a whistleblower can have recourse to external officials identified by the law.
• A whistleblower can report to the head or deputy head of the organisation if the organisation does not have an established procedure or the whistleblower official may be involved or could have a conflict of interest.
• The Act applies retroactively for those cases where the illegal act continues after the law is enacted.
• Reporting authorities identified by the law are: Inland Revenue Commissioner for tax related issues; the Financial Analysis Authority for money laundering; the Financial Services Authority for information related to banks and other financial services companies; the Permanent Commission Against Corruption for allegations on corruption; and the Ombudsman for other issues and sectors, including voluntary organisations, which are not covered by the other reporting authorities.