Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/776046
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 JANUARY 2017 8 MATTHEW VELLA THE billing company that pro- cesses payments for Malta's energy and water services providers is contesting at the Court of Appeal a tribunal's decision to comply with MaltaToday's freedom of informa- tion request. ARMS (Automated Revenue Management Services) has refused to disclose how much it is owed in outstanding electricity and water bills by the Labour and Nationalist parties or their holding companies. MaltaToday's request, filed in 2013, was turned down by ARMS and the refusal upheld by the In- formation and Data Protection Commissioner. But the IDPC ap- peals tribunal overturned the deci- sion, saying that ARMS was not ex- empt from the FOIA law because it belonged to a "corporation", which is not listed as an exempt public entity. ARMS are contesting the tribunal decision, saying its decision was not based on MaltaToday's contes- tation, and insisting that the bill- ing company was a government- owned commercial entity exempt from the FOIA. Under Article 5, Malta's FOIA grants wide berth to all govern- ment companies to refuse requests for disclosure: specifically, docu- ments "held by a commercial part- nership in which the government or another public authority has a controlling interest, in so far as the documents in question relate to the commercial activities of the commercial partnership" are exempt. The IDPC appeals tribunal disa- greed, insisting that MaltaToday's request does not concern docu- ments related to ARMS's commer- cial operations, "but with its own clients, which are holding compa- nies of the political parties." Indeed the FOIA states that pub- lic authorities can make a copy of requested documents with the de- letion of exempt matters. Malta- Today has insisted that the FOIA grants the IDPC the faculty of ap- plying a public interest test and determine whether disclosing in- formation would serve the public interest better, than having it not disclosed. The test had to be based on Mal- taToday's insistence that unlike regular consumers, the two par- ties contested democratic elec- tions and ultimately selected who would be minister responsible for energy affairs. As such, this poten- tially could allow them to negotiate better terms of repayment of their bills. MaltaToday had told ARMS and the IDPC that consumers are at a disadvantage to political parties, which cannot be considered "nor- mal clients" as ARMS insists they are. "Political parties field for elec- tion the very people who might end up being energy minister, or Enemalta chairman, or WSC chair- man, even chief executive. The incestuous relationship between party and state in Malta is sym- bolised by the fact that ARMS has granted political parties extremely generous terms of credit on their pending energy bills," MaltaToday had said. ARMS told the Appeals Tribunal, chaired by lawyer Anna Mallia, that it was bound by confidentiality and that political parties were clients just like any other consumer. But the tribunal agreed with Mal- taToday that the documents re- quested were not exempt from the Freedom of Information Act since the documents requested did not pertain to the commercial activi- ties of ARMS's operations. The Appeals Tribunal said that in terms of the FOIA's own definition of public authority, ARMS Limited could not be considered a public authority. ARMS is insisting in its Appeals Court application that the compa- ny is a "public authority" because it is an entity in which the govern- ment or any of its agencies has a controlling interest In 2014, MaltaToday reported that it had information that the Nationalist and Labour parties had outstanding bills of a combined €2.5 million, with €1.9 million owed by the PN. Enemalta's new chief executive, Frederick Azzopardi, was elected for Labour on the Mdina local council; while former chairman Charles Mangion was later elected to the House of Representatives in a casual election. While political parties retain an influential hold on publicly-owned corporations, vari- ous clients who defaulted on their dues have been presented with judicial letters to pay up within a stipulated time, or have their ser- vices disconnected. News ARMS contests decision to lift lid on PL and PN's energy bills The tribunal agreed with MaltaToday that the documents requested were not exempt from the Freedom of Information Act