Police Commissioner Michael Cassar is still evaluating all possibilities to see if he is going to appeal from a decision taken by the Data Commission to fine his office €500 for a violation committed by his predecessor.

Mr Cassar was answering questions made by this newsroom a week after the Data Protection Commissioner found that former police commissioner Peter Paul Zammit was in charge of documents about Inspector Elton Taliana, which were leaked to a section of the media.

Another set of questions about this case were sent to Data Protection Commissioner Saviour Cachia who replied that he does “not comment on decisions taken by this Office in relation to specific data protection cases.”

Mr Cassar has 30 days to appeal the decision taken by the Data Commissioner. The story was first revealed in The Times of Malta, which reported that the Data Commissioner concluded that Mr Zammit’s office had illegally copied and passed on documents about Police Inspector Elton Taliana to Malta Today’s managing editor Saviour Balzan, which were eventually presented in court by Mr Balzan himself.  The editor had denied ever receiving any files from Mr Zammit and added that the Data Commissioner never summoned Mr Balzan for an interview.

If Police Commissioner Cassar decides to appeal, this case will be heard by Dr Lynn Zahra, who is the Chairman of the Data Protection Appeals tribunal and partner of former Minister Joe Grima, who is now the government’s envoy to the World Tourism Organisation.