The Gozo Ministry has been ordered to immediately publish the contracts that it signed with 13 consultants after Labour’s return to power in 2013.
Upholding an appeal by the Times of Malta after the ministry refused to reveal what the contracts said, Information and Data Protection Commissioner Saviour Cachia decreed that their contents had to be published within 25 days.
Mr Cachia ruled, given that the consultancies were paid out of public funds, that “the public interest is certainly better served by providing the Times of Malta full access to the requested documents”.
After repeatedly refusing to give any details on the terms of engagement of the 13 ministerial consultants, this newspaper filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
However, the ministry would still not make the information available.
This newspaper objected and asked the Data Protection Commissioner to look into the matter, having deemed the reason to be an excuse
It argued that the law precluded it from making the information public, because “a request may be rejected if the document is publicly available or will be published within three months”.
This newspaper objected and asked the Data Protection Commissioner to look into the matter, having deemed the reason mentioned “an excuse” by the ministry to prolong the publication of the contracts.
Not all the 13 consultants are still serving. Some were not interested in having their contracts renewed, others were stopped and a few moved elsewhere.
Among those that no longer serve as consultants are Frank Psaila, former permanent secretary at the Gozo Ministry, Joe Mifsud, who was appointed magistrate, Christian Zammit, a Labour Party candidate, and Joseph Grech, who also served as Gozo Channel chairman under the previous administration.
There are seven consultants assigned to the ministry. They include former Labour minister and sitting MP Joe Debono Grech, the executive chairman of Identity Malta Joe Vella Bonnici and the former head of the government’s customer care department, Tony Borg.
The other consultants serving currently are Rose Marie Azzopardi, a university lecturer, and Mgr Joe Vella Gauci, a former archpriest of the Gozo Cathedral who is also Malta’s Ambassador to Unesco.
The exact roles of these consultants and their remuneration are as yet unknown.
ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com