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SOUNDSLIDE | Whistleblowers' Act 'not a washing machine' for corruption - minister
Justice and Home Affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici responds to criticism of the Whistleblowers’ Act by criminal lawyer Emmanuel Mallia.
22 October 2010, 12:00am
Karl Stagno-Navarra
Karl Stagno-Navarra
2 min read
Soundclip is in the Maltese language
In an interview with MaltaToday, Mallia called for amendments to the bill, claiming that ‘guilty’ parties in an act of corruption did not enjoy immunity with the law.
But minister Mifsud Bonnici stressed “it would be a grave political mistake” to grant a legal tool with which any guilty party could easily “wash his hands.”
“No person who commits a serious crime, such as an act of corruption, could expect to grant himself a form of Presidential pardon by invoking the Whistleblower’s Act.”
The minister added that existing laws do permit for the Commissioner of Police or the Permanent Commission Against Corruption to weigh the circumstances of what is revealed to them, and recommend to the Attorney General to exempt the guilty witness from criminal charges, on condition that the truth prevails during evidence in court.
“For a person to be involved in a petty crime is one thing, but its a completely different thing when serious crime is concerned,” the minister said, adding that “we cannot have a situation where people expect to be exempt from criminal charges, if they would have committed a crime.”
Carm Mifsud Bonnici said that “legislation such as the Whistleblower’s Act is intended to reduce crime, and definitely not intended to be a motivation for criminals… God forbid we legislate in favour of any partner in crime or kingpin to get away with murder.”
In his filmed interview with MaltaToday, lawyer Emmanuel Mallia called for amendments to the Whistleblower’s Act, and stressed that the law “scares, rather than encourages” persons to come forward and reveal serious cases of corruption.
Mallia explains that it takes a “direct accomplice” to know the details and facts of an act of corruption, and as the draft proposes, “those who have the information, are not at all encouraged to come forward.”
He added that while exemption from court sentencing already exists in the Criminal Code where an involved party reveals attempts or proven cases of game fixing, the Whistleblower’s Act offers a “contradiction.”
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The honour able minister has forgotten who was white washed for a serious crime.
Does "Il-Hafi" ring a bell. honourable minister.
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Mr. Mifsud Bonnici. you missed the whole point of what lawyer Emmanuel Mallia pointed out.Are you a lawyer yourself or just a wanna be?
"God forbids that we legislate in favor of any partner in crime"your words.
So upright you want to make us believe. How about all the corruption in your government Mr do gooder?
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Having heard both sides - its clear that Emmanuel Mallia is right. I am surprised even that PN is going ahead with the whistel blower act and fully expect them to sabotage or neuter this act - making its into an empty shell, an illusion with no real effectiveness. And it seems to me that Mifsud Bonnici arguments are really in favour of neutering this act - his argument is that someone who has committed a crime would use the act to come clean and get away unpunished - but hang on, is that not exactly what we have happening everyday: corruption in plain sight, conflicts of interest, incompetent people screwing up and staying on to screw up some more, spin and cover ups instead of facing up to the facts? At least with the Whistle Blower act - we will have a chance to finally start to ackowledge that this country is terminally sick with the desease of corruption. Let me tell you how important it is to ackowledge the problem and make the truth public, it was used in South Africa to bring to light the atrocities of apertheid (the Truth and Reconcilation Commision was about making the truth public, not about punishment) and in europe a similar exersice was carry out to expose the true nature of the nazi nationalist party and serve as a warning to history.
And may i remind the reader how we have seen drug lords given presedential pardons and attempted murderers walk free, or ministers repeatedly walk out rather then answer questions - so now all of a sudden we are worried someone will get away?
Mifsud Bonnici, your arguments are weak, you lack credibility and your party has every reason to sabotage this act and corrupt it from within.
