Questions on Malta Security Services will not be answered in Parliament

A number of questions raised by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil on the Security Services remained unanswered in parliament as the Minister for Home Affairs Manuel Mallia said such questions should only be raised in the Security committee.

Busuttil is a member of the said committee.

The PN leader has tabled a number of questions in parliament with regard to the MSS’s tapping system after Vodafone released data on the number of requests by law enforcement agencies in Malta for metadata.

The report raised claims in the press about the extent of phone-tapping by the MSS, which has access to the legal interception system that is run by all internet and telephonic operators in Malta.

The government has insisted that requests by MSS was a small part of the statistics presented by Vodafone Malta, "the majority of which refer to police investigations wanting to identity geo-location data to pinpoint the locations of telephone calls, without the need to intercept a phone-call," Mallia told MaltaToday.

This evening, Busuttil tabled five questions including whether the minister confirmed that the MSS’s use of phone tapping was always according to law; who is responsible from the maintenance and support of the interception system; what mechanism is in place to audit the MSS’s phone tapping use and what sort of judicial oversight exists on the system.

“Such questions should be raised in the Security committee,” Mallia replied to all questions.

A similar reply was also given to MaltaToday when this newspaper sought further information on individuals provided protection by the MSS.

A spokesperson for the home affairs ministry said “any questions relating to any operational or administrative measures concerning the Service can only be addressed in the Security Committee set up in terms of Chapter 391 of the Laws of Malta.”