The parliamentary ombudsman today filed a judicial protest against Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia on an investigation of complaints by Armed Forces of Malta officials.

It is the first time that an ombudsman has taken a government minister to court.

The ombudsman, Judge Emeritus Joseph Said Pullicino, also filed the protest against the permanent secretary of the same ministry, Mr Kevin Mahoney.

The Prime Minister has been notified about the judicial statement, the ombudsman’s office said in a statement.

The ombudsman said that his functions are to be a shield for the citizens by investigating complaints of injustices and discrimination and ensuring that their right for a just administration according to the laws of the country is maintained.

In the protest, the ombudsman speaks of “insinuations of bias and prejudice” made against him. He said that allegations that he is not impartial in his investigations are serious, especially if made by a government ministry, and should be withdrawn.

He said he cannot understand why a ministry is refusing to cooperate with him in search of the truth.

He said that common sense and a sense of justice should ultimately prevail over any other considerations.

In the judicial protest, the Ombudsman said that he is surprised and concerned over the negative reaction of Ministerl Mallia, particularly the way he expressed himself in a letter sent to the Ombudsman recently whereby the minister insisted that the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to investigate AFM promotion complaints, citing a number of reasons.

The Ombudsman said that majority of reasons given by the minister were irrelevant.

The Ombudsman exhibited a number of documents in court, including the correspondence between his office, the Commander of the Armed Forces, the permanent secretary of the ministry and the minister. “In September 2013 two exercises tied to army promotions were concluded.

“One was about a number of army majors which were promoted to Lt colonels, while the other dealt with the fact that various Lt Colonels were promoted to colonels.

“The Ombudsman’s office received a number of complaints concerning the above mentioned promotions made by various AFM officials who felt that they deserved to be promoted since they had more relevant experience and qualifications then those individuals who were in fact promoted, apart from enjoying seniority as well.

“This is when my office kicked off an investigation. The Commander of the armed forces was notified of the complaints and was also asked to give his views in the event he felt he wanted to.

“In his reply dated 10 December 2013, the Commander emphasised that the officials who filed the complaints hadn’t followed normal procedure.

“In order to be able to continue with the investigation, my office wrote to the Permanent Secretary of the Home Affairs Ministry.

“In the letter, the ministry was asked to provide the office of the Ombudsman with relevant documents tied to the procedure of army promotions, according to Article 19 of the Ombudsman’s Act.”

The Act imposes an obligation on each individual to cooperate with the Ombudsman in any investigation his office is conducting and failure to do so may result in criminal proceedings.

“The permanent secretary refused, at all costs, to provide the relevant documentation since he insisted that my office hadn’t the jurisdiction to investigate such complaints.

“Other attempts were made by my office but to no avail since the ministry kept insisting that it is not the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction to follow up such complaints.”

Judicial protest

Documents presented

In comments on Facebook, the Nationalist Party spokesman for home affairs Jason Azzopardi said that Minister Mallia is trying to cover up for illegalities committed in the AFM. He is trying to undermine the country’s institutions and is acting arrogantly and above the law.

It is clear that there are fears that the truth will come out, and this from a Prime Minuster who wants us to believe he has European values, he said.

In a normal democracy, the minister resigns when faced with such circumstances.