Data Commissioner Joseph Ebejer dismissed Labour Party claims that the chairman of the government ’s IT agency had access to people’s personal data, saying these were “unproven” and “unfounded ”.
Labour IT spokesman Michael Farrugia failed to pass on any evidence to substantiate allegations he had made about Mita chief executive Claudio Grech breaching privacy laws because of his position, Mr Ebejer said in a report.
Also, two technical inspections into Mita’s methods and tracking processes to access data – which always required the owner’s permission – clearly revealed that Mr Grech, as CEO, never had any direct or indirect access to personal information held in the agency’s database.
In August, Mr Grech asked Mr Ebejer to investigate allegations made by Dr Farrugia.
Dr Farrugia said Mr Grech recently exposed himself as a Nationalist Party strategist and as the person who had coordinated the party’s electoral data together with general secretary Paul Borg Olivier.
Mr Grech categorically denied having direct or indirect access to any system, database or government-related information stored at Mita.
In his report Mr Ebejer noted that Mita had embarked on a wide-ranging project to strengthen its security system and a number of its sections had already achieved official certification.