The whistleblowers act does not provide an arbitrary go-ahead for information leaks, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici told The Malta Independent in reply to questions about the leaked Sheehan shooting police recordings.

The audio recordings of calls received by the police control room on the night of the 19 November shooting were leaked to the independent media and later the PN media.

 "The law on what is a whistle-blowing act and who is a whistleblower is quite clear and if anything this is a matter of legal interpretation of what the law says.

"The whistleblower's act of course does not provide a go ahead for arbitrary leaking of information," Dr Bonnici said in reply to The Malta Independent's questions.

Several conversations involving former home affairs minister Manuel Mallia's driver Paul Sheehan and the former police commissioner Ray Zammit as well as Dr Mallia himself were leaked.

Mr Sheehan is currently facing court proceedings for the attempted murder of Stephen Smith. Mr Sheehan fired several shots at Mr Smith after he clipped Dr Mallia's ministerial car in Gzira.

The Justice Minister stated that the whistleblower act has a defined set of procedures in order for a whistleblower to be granted protection.

"Under the whistleblowers act a whistleblower is granted protection if he reveals to the competent officers listed in the law improper practices done by the employer.

"One has to therefore see whether the person who leaked the tapes made the revealing act to the channel established in the law," Dr Bonnici said.

The whistleblower act is meant to protect public sector employees who reveal acts of corruption or wrongdoing in their organisation.

Each ministry has a whistle blowing officer who is responsible for receiving to whom any reports must be filed.

In a questions and answers section on the Office of the Prime Minister's website, it is stated that whistleblowers will not be protected if they fail to file their reports through the correct channels.

Phone recording leaks worrying - new Police Commissioner

In an interview on PBS last week, the new Police Commissioner Michael Cassar called the leaks of the recordings "worrying".

"It preoccupies me that these leaks took place. It worries me because the public is not going to feel comfortable reporting certain information...

"The first thing I did, and I am still working on this, is to try and prevent, as far as possible, the possibility of leakages," Mr Cassar said.

This does not mean that police wrongdoing will not be investigated he said, but things must be done through the correct channels as provided by the law.

Asked whether an internal investigation about the leakages is underway, Mr Cassar said his priority is to prevent "further leakages".

Pressed further on the matter, Mr Cassar said he has only been in his new role for a few days.