Ombudsman Said Pullicino. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil told Parliament yesterday that the failure by Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit to cooperate with OLAF director-deneral Giovanni Kessler in a new investigation about former EU Commissioner John Dalli was a clear breach of European law.

He said the Prime Minister, who had personally appointed him (Mr Zammit), needed to assume his responsibilities.

He was introducing the debate on a Private Members’ Motion on the relations between the Ombudsman and the Home Affairs Ministry over whether the Ombudsman could hear cases submitted by officers of the AFM.

The Ombudsman has complained that the AFM is withholding documents and information from him, hindering his investigations.

The motion, which was defeated by 33 votes against and 29 for, was moved after Dr Busuttil had, last Monday week, asked for the suspension of the agenda of the House to discuss the issue but the Speaker had ruled that the matter was not urgent.

This sort of thing undermined democracy and rendered Malta a banana republic

Dr Busuttil referred to a letter that Dr Kessler sent to the Speaker, saying what had happened was a disgrace which shamed Malta. This sort of thing undermined democracy and rendered Malta a banana republic. (See Dr Kessler’s letter and Mr Dalli’s reply on pages 1 and 8).

The Opposition leader said it was unprecedented that an independent entity such as the Ombudsman was finding it hard to carry out its functions since the Home Affairs Ministry was preventing him from carrying out his duties. This was serious, he said.

What had happened threatened democracy and ridiculed Malta at a European level. This sort of thing only happened in banana republics led by dictators, Dr Busuttil said. The issue had escalated such that the Ombudsman felt duty bound to file a judicial protest, making it clear he intended to defend his right to do his duty and would not allow the government to interfere in his work.

Furthermore, the Ombudsman felt he had to take legal action against the Permanent Secretary of the Home Affairs Ministry, who failed to show up before him to reply to questions.

In any democratic country this was a serious constitutional crisis, as pointed out by former European Court of Human Rights Judge Giovanni Bonello.

Shadow home affairs minister Jason Azzopardi insisted that the Ombudsman was legally right to argue that officers could opt to file their complaints with his Office. He denied claims by Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia that the present government’s position was no different from that of the last government. The former government never interfered in the work of the Ombudsman and actually gave him all the information he needed when investigations were carried out.

Dr Azzopardi said the minister lacked credibility in this case because he was not consistent. The Ombudsman had investigated and found in favour of two AFM officers in a case which started under the old government and was concluded under the present one. The Ombudsman had recommended financial compensation and this was paid out to the two officers, by the present government, last August.

Did the Ombudsman have jurisdiction then, but not now? Or was this a case of discrimination?

Winding up the debate, Opposition deputy leader Mario de Marco said the present circumstances were not unique. There was a time, under the previous administration, when the army’s interpretation on the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction on promotion within the army was similar to that of the Home Affairs Minister.

Discussions were held between President Emeritus George Abela, the Attorney General’s office, the Ombudsman and the Prime Minister’s office. Consensus was reached on clarifications to the law regulating the army so that it could be interpreted correctly and fairly and a General Order was issued. Consequently, army officials could seek remedy either through the President of the Republic or through the Ombudsman.

Dr de Marco said that the present government denied army officials remedy through the Ombudsman. The executive had to follow the law and the minister had to cooperate with the Ombudsman who had jurisdiction and the right to investigate the complaints.

Minster Mallia could not take the law into his hands and ignore the legitimate order given by the Ombudsman. Concluding, he called on the government to acknowledge that it was not above the law.

Nationalist MPs Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici and Francis Zammit Dimech also contributed to the debate.