The Home Affairs Ministry has been fined for failing to reply to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from Times of Malta.

This newspaper had asked to see an inquiry report concerning a police decision to drop the charges against a man accused of assaulting four officers.

The administrative fine of €250 was imposed earlier this month by Data Protection Commissioner Joseph Cachia. This was after this newspaper complained that the ministry had failed to reply within the deadlines established by law, despite repeated warnings from Mr Cachia’s office.

The commissioner also ordered the ministry to hand over the report to Times of Malta within 10 working days.

That deadline expired a few days ago, yet the report remains under wraps.

A Data Protection Office spokeswoman has now told this newspaper that the ministry has up to May 7 to decide whether it will appeal the decision. Further action against the ministry will be taken if no appeal is filed or the report is not released by this date, the spokeswoman said.

The case concerns former police commissioner Peter Paul Zammit’s decision to drop charges against a man for allegedly assaulting four police officers at the Żabbar station in June 2013. An inquiry into Mr Zammit’s decision was ordered by the ministry a year later and concluded.

The newspaper’s FOI request for a copy of this report was submitted on November 19 of last year and the ministry was supposed to give its feedback by February 18.

However, this date passed in silence. The Data Protection Office ordered the ministry to give its feedback by the end of March. Once again, the deadline went by with no reply having been received.

The commissioner then issued a final notice, ordering the ministry to announce a decision by Tuesday, April 7, on whether it would release the report and to give its reasons. The ministry promised to hand over the report but failed to comply yet again, leading to the commissioner’s decision to impose the fine.

The commissioner also chided the ministry on the way it had handled a separate FOI request for an inquiry into the mistaken arraignment of Darryl Luke Borg over a burglary from a Birkirkara confectionery in August 2013.

The inquiry report was eventually tabled in Parliament last month and Times of Malta published its contents. This fact was cited by the ministry in deciding not to give feedback to the FOI request.

Nevertheless, the commissioner noted that by law there is a clear obligation for public authorities to inform the applicant in writing about the outcome of a request – regardless of any circumstances or developments that may occur over the interim period.

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