Radical whistleblowers' law provides for new identity

The whistleblower act is the most radical law the Labour government was presenting, putting various forms of incentives encouraging individuals to blow the whistles on cases of corruption, junior minister Owen Bonnici said today.

The provisions in the law were so wide that it includes providing a whistleblower with a new identity.

In a briefing with journalists, Bonnici rebutted claims by the Opposition that the draft bill was "almost identical" to that tabled by the Nationalist government during the past legislature.

"The previous bill shelved by the Nationalist administration was an academic bill, nice on paper - an interesting legal exercise which in practice would fail to work," Bonnici said.

He said the draft bill presented this evening was in line with European Council's recommendations on protection of a whistleblower.

"We have widened the concept of whistleblower protection and included clear references to bribery among other illegalities," Bonnici said.

The act provides for a principle whereby a mistake or an incorrect step in the whistleblowing procedure would not lead to the annulment of the report.

Bonnici described the law as attempting to find a balance whereby a whistleblower, also an accomplice in the corruption would not be completely exempted but incentives would be provided as to lead to the corruption to be revealed.

Following consultation with police and constitutional bodies, it will be up to the Attorney General to decide whether a whistleblower should enjoy immunity.

Bonnici insisted that a 'one size fits all' approach could not be adopted in these cases and it was therefore up to the AG to decide what course of action to take.

The junior minister explained that a whistleblower could send his lawyer to negotiate a deal with the Attorney General, without obviously the lawyer revealing the name of the whistleblower.

The level of protection to a whistleblower varied from a reduction in the court sentence to the highest protection which included immunity or a new identity.

With reference to the justice minister's discretion to exempt individuals or cases from the Whistleblower Act, Bonnici said this would apply to cases if national security.

In the case that an informer decides to come up with a false story, that alleged whistleblower could face criminal action.

With the enactment of the law, an internal whistleblowing unit will be set up within each department and an external development unit.

For the private sector, employees could refer to the external whistleblowing unit whereas large companies - such as banks - would set up their own internal whistleblowing unit.