The Ombudsman, Joseph Said Pullicino, said today that he was prepared to meet Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia to discuss their ongoing disagreement on the right of AFM officers to report grievances directly to the Office of the Ombudsman.

However, the point of departure for such a meeting had to be a correct interpretation of the law, safeguarding the officers' right to complain to the Ombudsman, he said.

The Ombudsman's comments were made in another judicial protest against the minister, filed this morning.

Prof Said Pullicino said it was up to the minister to take the matter to court, if he so wished, and he would abide by the court's decision.

He insisted that the Ombudsman's jurisdiction to consider complaints by AFM officers was discussed in detail and confirmed in 2008 during meetings involving the then President, the Ombudsman, the Attorney General and the Office of the Prime Minister.

It was agreed that a position taken by the Ombudsman four years earlier was mistaken. Yet the current minister was basing his decision on that mistaken position, the Ombudsman said.

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