Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1292560
MATTHEW AGIUS THE former FIAU official Jon- athan Ferris has lost a case in which he was demanding a dec- laration that the government's decision not to grant him whis- tleblower status was null and breached his fundamental rights. The case, filed against the Principal Permanent Secretary and External Whistleblower Unit officer Philip Massa, fol- lowed a 2018 judicial protest in which Ferris claimed the Unit had repeatedly moved the goal- posts to derail his application for whistleblower protection. Ferris, a former police inspec- tor with the Economic Crimes Unit, had been fired from a new post at the Financial In- telligence Analysis Unit not long after joining the unit. He claims that this happened be- cause he dug too deep in his in- vestigations into allegations of government corruption. After losing his job, he claimed the Economic Crimes Unit, tasked with following on the investigations initiated by the FIAU, had played down the results from inspections car- ried out on Pilatus Bank, the private bank shuttered by the MFSA since the arrest [since acquitted] of owner Ali Sadr Hasheminejad in the United States. Through a sworn court ap- plication signed by his law- yers Jason Azzopardi and An- drew Borg Cardona, Ferris had stated that upon deciding to request whistleblower protec- tion, his lawyer and himself had met with Godwin Pulis at the Office of the Prime Minis- ter in order to start the process of getting him protection. "The official referred the ap- plicant [Ferris] to first make his request to another government department (External Whistle- blower Unit) and a meeting was held with Massa, the accused," reads the sworn application. After being asked to hand over documents he had in his pos- session in order to truly show that he deserved such status, an "email correspondence sa- ga" commenced between Mas- sa and Ferris' lawyers which ultimately ended in the former FIAU official being told he did not satisfy the criteria neces- sary for eligibility. According to Ferris, he was informed that his ineligibility was a result of him failing to have "done internal whistle- blowing". His lawyers, Jason Azzopar- di and Andrew Borg Cardona, had argued that if, as Ferris believes, he was removed from the FIAU precisely because "in carrying out his duties, he was approaching a conclusion and results that were politically un- comfortable for government politicians and those around them", then he had no way of carrying out internal whistle- blowing. The hearing of the case was further complicated by a re- quest for the recusal of the sit- ting judge, which was turned down. In December 2018, Mr Jus- tice Grazio Mercieca, presiding the case, had refused Ferris's request that he recuse himself from the proceedings, stating his previous role as a person of trust with the Minister for Gozo could not be perceived by a neutral observer as hav- ing knowledge or a connection with the affairs of other minis- tries. In his judgment on the mat- ter, handed down last week, Mercieca said that what the External Whistleblowing Unit had requested – evidence of internal whistleblowing – was simply an invitation to allow the administrative process to move forward to the next stage, that of external whistle- blowing, said the court. "The director was not exercising any discretion; he was giving no de- cision; he was simply following the obligatory details of the law that bound him. In truth, he could not do anything else." The merits of the case had al- so been effectively exhausted, ruled the judge, as Ferris had since tendered the information he wished to disclose, to the public inquiry into the assassi- nation of Daphne Caruana Gal- izia in January 2020. "A court cannot pronounce itself on rights unless request- ed to by the litigant, on his own initiative," said the judge. "But on the other hand, the litigant cannot, with limited excep- tions, ask for a judicial pro- nouncement on something un- less he had a direct, actual and personal interest in preserving a right of his." The fact remained that the case, "although its merits were doubtless of general interest" had been one opened on the basis of a private right; and although the eventual pro- nouncement could be of public interest, this was not enough in the absence of the necessity of protecting the private right of the plaintiff, to legitimise judg- ment, said the judge. The court rejected Ferris's re- quests as, in its judgment, his juridical interest had ceased to subsist during the hearing of the case. The court also or- dered Ferris to suffer all the costs of the case. 6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 SEPTEMBER 2020 NEWS The Regulator for Energy and Water Services would like to remind owners of swimming pools that a licence to operate a swimming pool is required by law in terms of the Control of Swimming Pool Regulations (S.L. 545.07). Owners who are in arrears towards their licence dues are reminded to settle them promptly to avoid legal action against them. Those owners that have not registered their pool are urged to do so to avoid legal action and fines. More details are available from: www.rews.org.mt Court refuses Ferris rights breach over whistleblower status Former FIAU employee Jonathan Ferris