A member of the private secretariat of Parliamentary Secretary Justyne Caruana resigned amid claims of copying a health document, the Times of Malta is informed.

Ivan Abela, from Qala, who had been employed on a position of trust basis, was accused of using his official position to obtain classified documents from the Gozo hospital. He then exhibited the classified documents before a tribunal dealing with a case not related to his official duties.

This newspaper was informed the documents exhibited contained information on the health of an individual. When asked by the tribunal how he obtained the documents, Mr Abela did not reply.

When contacted, a spokesman for the Health Ministry confirmed that an investigation was launched following a formal report made against Mr Abela.

According to the ministry, although excerpts of a medical file were copied illegally from a classified file held at the Gozo hospital, there was no evidence this was done by Mr Abela.

“The inquiry concluded that it was not in a position to identify a hospital officer who might be responsible to having misplaced the file and could not recommend action against any particular officer,” the spokesman said.

When pressed on whether the police were called in to investigate once parts of a classified file were copied without authorisation, the ministry said they had not. However, the spokesman pointed out that, soon after the inquiry started, “Mr Abela resigned to be able to clear his name”.

Contacted by this newspaper, Mr Abela would not say how he had obtained the classified information presented to the tribunal. He would not say either whether he used to form part of the parliamentary secretary’s private secretariat or why he had tendered his resignation.

A spokesman for the parliamentary secretary said: “Mr Abela is not part of Dr Caruana’s private secretariat and she is totally extraneous to the matter.”

When the Times of Malta pointed out it was aware that Mr Abela used to form part of her secretariat, the spokesman said: “Mr Abela held a messenger grade some months ago but eventually left the post and is therefore not part of her private secretariat.”

“Dr Caruana repeats that she is totally extraneous to the matter,” the spokesman insisted.

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