Manuel Mallia

The Ombudsman has no authority to investigate complaints by Armed Forces officers unless he is satisfied that all other avenues to seek redress have been exhausted, Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia has said.

He was replying to a judicial protest filed last week by Ombudsman Joseph Said Pullicino in which he complained he was being obstructed in considering complaints from AFM officers. The Ombudsman had said he failed to understand why Dr Mallia seemed to be refusing to cooperate in his search for the truth about army promotions.

But Dr Mallia said in a counter protest filed on Friday that the law precluded the Ombudsman from investigating complaints by AFM officials unless they had first exhausted all other avenues to seek redress. The minister said he could not be expected to act outside the law.

In his 11-page reply signed by the Attorney General’s office, Dr Mallia insisted that according to the Ombudsman Act, complaints by people in the Armed Forces of Malta, among others, cannot be processed unless there was evidence to show that all avenues of redress had been exhausted.

Dr Mallia gave as an example a complaint filed before the Ombudsman in October 2003 by someone alleging that he was not promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.

A day later, the Ombudsman’s office had replied, saying that “as there are adequate means of redress in your case, your complaint is not admissible for investigation in accordance with the Ombudsman Act”.

Dr Mallia called on the Ombudsman to stop investigating any complaints from AFM officials unless he took the case to court for a decision.

Dr Mallia also said that he was willing to meet the Ombudsman to discuss the matter.