At a meeting held on Wednesday, Dr Frank Portelli presented a letter to Prime Minister Dr Laurence Gonzi.

In his letter Dr Frank Portelli requested the Prime Minister to legislate a Public Interest Disclosure Act – more popularly known as a Whistle-Blower Act – in order to protect any individual who, acting in good faith, discloses evidence of corruption as defined by the Council of Europe in its Convention on Corruption.

The Prime Minister, according to a Dr Portelli statement, thanked Dr Portelli saying that he took all allegations of corruption extremely seriously, that he was satisfied with the way the police conducted their investigations and that events in the past have shown that our system works and can weed out corruption.

Dr Gonzi expressed great concern that Dr Portelli felt that he himself was being investigated when in fact this should not be the case – as it was the allegations that were being investigated.

The Prime Minister stated that anyone disclosing information in good faith should feel that he is doing his duty to the nation as a Maltese citizen and should not feel that he is being investigated himself.

Dr Portelli thanked the Prime Minister for his reassurances and concluded by saying that he felt certain the vast majority of the Maltese people would welcome a Whistle-Blower Act.