The Data Protection Commissioner has ordered the Malta Arts Council and the Justice Ministry to publish the government’s contract of service given by direct order to former TV personality Lou Bondì.
According to Data Commissioner Saviour Cachia, the Justice Ministry had no legal basis to refuse a Freedom of Information request by this newspaper for a copy of Mr Bondì’s contract and should reverse its decision.
“Although in terms of his service contract, Mr Bondì is not an employee of the Public Authority but is only offering his services on a self-employed basis in his capacity as a sole trader, since the salary attached to his engagement to provide consultancy services is paid out of public funds, the commissioner considers that, in this specific case, the public interest is better served by providing the applicant (the Times of Malta) with full access to the requested document,” the commissioner said.
Mr Cachia ordered the Malta Arts Council within the Justice Ministry to make available the details of Mr Bondì’s contract to the Times of Malta.
Mr Bondì is not an employee of the Public Authority but is only offering his services on a self-employed basis
Both Justice Minister Owen Bonnici and the Malta Arts Council, chaired by former PBS CEO Albert Marshall, had turned down requests for a copy of the contract citing data protection rules.
According to the Data Protection Commissioner, it was the Attorney General Peter Grech who advised the Justice Ministry not to publish the contract.
The Attorney General had said the publication of the contract “would reveal commercially sensitive information on the commercial affairs of a private consultant [Mr Bondì] who works on a self-employed basis.”
However, the Data Commissioner shot down the Attorney General’s conclusions and said the way public funds were disbursed should be scrutinised.
Mr Bondì, a former PN employee and a renowned TV personality on public TV during Nationalist administrations, was roped in by the new Labour government just a few weeks after it was returned to power in March 2013.
Though heavily criticised by Labour in opposition, Mr Bondì was immediately offered a consultancy job with the Office of the Prime Minister on a person of trust basis and paid €54,000 a year to take care of national festivities.
When the festivities were over, Mr Bondì was immediately offered another direct contract as a person of trust by Dr Bonnici, this time to act as an advisor at the Malta Arts Council.
According to Dr Bonnici, Mr Bondì’s remuneration package had remained the same as the one he received for his former job.