MEPs are pushing for whistleblower protection to be extended to intermediaries who facilitate reporting of any illegalities, including journalists, Times of Malta has learned.

The European Parliament Committee on Culture, Education and Media is looking to reinforce rules on whistleblower security by providing protection to any intermediaries assisting with disclosure. These would also include journalists.

MEPs within the committee are also pushing for legislation that encourages whistleblowers to disclose illegalities publicly if they believe internal reporting systems or agencies are inadequate.

“Potential whistleblowers should always be able to decide themselves whether to use internal or external reporting channels or whether they directly reach out to the public,” amendments to the European Commission’s proposal on whistleblower legislation say.

The amendments also propose that all member states should allow whistleblowers to be entitled to the right of appeal before the courts whenever they are denied the status.

 “Under no circumstances can the authority tasked to grant such status or protection have an actual or potential conflict of interest with regard to whether or not to grant such status or protection,” the amendments propose.

Former Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) officer Jonathan Ferris resorted to taking legal action against the authorities after being denied whistleblower status by the same government he wanted to expose.

Mr Ferris claimed the FIAU fired him because he dug too deep into government corruption allegations and because he had reached conclusions in his investigations which were “politically uncomfortable” for the government.

Without whistleblower protection, Mr Ferris could face a five-year jail term and a €100,000 fine for blowing the whistle on any corruption he may have discovered during his time at the FIAU. 

Another local whistleblower is former Pilatus Bank employee Maria Efimova, who claimed that the Panamanian company Egrant belonged to the Prime Minister’s wife Michelle Muscat, an allegation since dismissed in a magisterial inquiry.

After fleeing the island following the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who made the allegation on her blog, she faced extradition on a European arrest warrant, over her failure to turn up at unrelated court hearings. The Maltese extradition request was rejected by the Greek courts.

The European Commission has been looking to toughen up rules to protect whistleblowers for several months. Work on new legislation has been in the pipeline since April.

The proposed legislation sets out to ensure protection for those who speak out over breaches of EU legislation in the areas of public procurement, terrorist financing and money laundering, among others.

The Commission also suggested setting up protection mechanisms, including clear reporting channels.

The committee responsible for media has been given until next month to prepare its position, a spokesman for MEP Francis Zammit Dimech, who is part of the committee, confirmed.

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