Seven months have elapsed since The Malta Independent on Sunday filed an application with the Commissioner for Information and Protection for Data to provide Neville Gafa’s contract.
This newsroom had filed a Freedom of Information (FOI) complaint seeking investigation and review by the Commissioner on 28 August 2019.
The complaint was made after the government had refused an FOI request to provide a copy of Gafa’s contract. That request was made on 2 July 2019, following several months of unanswered questions and stonewalling by the government, ministries, as well as Gafa himself.
A copy of Gafa’s contract was requested, together with information on which ministry or entity Gafa works for and in what capacity.
The request was refused based on the fact that the information is publicly available by a parliamentary question tabled on 8 July. The parliamentary question referenced in the FOI reply gave details of Gafa’s position and salary scale but did not divulge his contract.
No timeframe for Commissioner to make decision.
In 2019, the Commissioner received a total of 21 applications, including the one made by this newsroom, according to a parliamentary question reply on 30 March 2020 put forward by PN MP David Agius.
Replying to the question, Justice Minister, Edward Zammit Lewis said that the law does not establish or bind the Commissioner with a timeframe to make his decision.
Zammit Lewis said that until the end of 2019, nine applications were decided, while one other application was concluded after an agreement between the applicant and public authority.
The other applications, many of which were received in the later months of 2019, Zammit Lewis noted, are in the final stages of investigation and the Commissioner is expected to decide on them in the coming weeks.
Constant reminders with no conclusive replies
The Commissioner’s office, however, has been telling this newsroom that the complaint will be concluded soon – for months.
The acknowledgement receipt for the complaint was received the day following the application, on 29 August 2019. On 19 September 2019, this newsroom asked for an update on the matter and received a reply the same day noting, “This investigation on this case is ongoing. Rest assured that when the Commissioner issues his decision, you will be notified accordingly.”
On 26 December 2019, another reminder was sent, since four months had elapsed from the application date, and the following day a reply was received from the Commissioner’s office noting, “My colleague, who is currently on leave, is taking care of this case file. I will speak to her and she will contact you accordingly.”
Another two months elapsed, and on 19 February 2020, this newsroom sent another reminder and this time the Commissioner’s office noted, “Further to your email below, the Commissioner has concluded his investigation on the matter and the decision will be issued shortly.”
Till the time of writing, no conclusive reply on the application made was received.
FOI law promotes transparency and accountability
The FOI Act establishes the right to the general public to information held by public authorities to promote added transparency and accountability in government, according to the FOI website.
The Act also gives the right to seek review through the Public Authority's Internal Complaints Procedure when the outcome is not satisfactory. This review was availed of by this newsroom but the request was refused, following the refusal of the original request for Gafa’s contract.
Who is Neville Gafa?
Neville Gafa was a controversial figure in former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s administration, but resigned from his role as soon as Robert Abela was appointed, despite having attended his inauguration.
His role within the government was never fully explained but ranged from dubious meetings with Leaders of the Libyan Militia, as well as links to the medical visa scandal, which Gafa denies.
He was recently in the limelight again, following his testimony in the public inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Gafa claimed that through his contacts in Libya, thousands of migrants would be saved at sea by the Libyan coastguard.
Gafa had said he had a diplomatic passport because of his frequent travels to Libya and was then Muscat’s special envoy of sorts. He has since handed back this diplomatic passport.
Muscat had initially said he did not know which ministry employed Gafa. “He is employed by the government, but I don’t know what his contract says because it’s not available to me at this moment,” Muscat had told journalists.
On 8 July, Muscat confirmed, in response to a parliamentary question, that Gafa was employed as a coordinator within his own office – a role which he is said to have taken up in January 2019.
Asked for details on Gafa’s salary, Muscat referred to the Engagement of Staff for Ministers’ Secretariats document, which states that OPM coordinators are Scale 6 employees, with a gross yearly income of €25,227. He also has an overtime allowance of 20% of scale 7 (€4,684), a car allowance of €1,864 and a telephone allowance of €1,165.
Gafa’s contract, however, was never published.
Asked for a description of his duties, the prime minister simply referred to Gafa’s role as a coordinator. He also said there was only one occasion when Gafa had formed part of a government delegation on visits to Libya.
Gafa is also a very close personal friend of former chief of staff, Keith Schembri and has until recently said that he was still in contact with Schembri every day.