No grudge against my Head of State – Olaf Terribile

President George Abela is keen to put a lid on the saga of his former right-hand man, whom he had suspected of leaking confidential documents to the press.

Asked for his reaction yesterday, Dr Abela's first comment in months about the saga was terse: " It is ' case closed' for me too."

Meanwhile, Mr Terribile – who left his position last year before the accusations were made public and who has since been redeployed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – was equally curt.

When contacted, he initially said he had " no reaction" to the story. Pressed further, he said: " The article appeared and said what it said, and that's it, I'll stop there."

He was then asked whether he held any grudge over the issue, to which he replied: " What, against my Head of State? Against the Head of State, definitely not. He is the Head of my State," Mr Terribile said.

Asked if he felt vindicated by the fact that no disciplinary action had been taken against him, he reiterated his original stance: " I have nothing to say. This was a bad experience I went through and I will stop there."

The saga began in July when Dr Abela addressed a press conference to say he had set up an inquiry board to investigate whether his secretary had leaked confidential documents to the press. Mr Terribile had left his post the previous month.

The inquiry's findings were never made public but were passed on to the Attorney General who found no criminal culpability and passed the buck to the Public Service Commission for disciplinary proceedings to begin.

However, according to sources, the PSC could not take action because the case was time-barred.

Mr Terribile has now requested to be assigned to the Diplo foundation – a training academy for diplomats – and the request is still being considered.

Most of the actors involved in the case, which is considered to have been rather embarrassing for the presidency, have chosen to remain silent.

The allegations against Mr Terribile were originally made by the President's public relations officer, Marica Mizzi, who said that during a state dinner she was told Mr Terribile had tried to pass on confidential documents to re porters. The person Ms Mizzi said had given her the information later declared he had not accepted documents from Mr Terribile.