President of Repubblika Robert Aquilina plans on filing a constitutional case in his name, on the right to a fair hearing over the police's refusal of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

He intends to file the case as he has been battling the refusal of his FOI request for two and a half years, and is also concerned with the impartiality of the tribunal's Chairperson, Noel Camilleri. Aquilina said that in July after a previous sitting, Camilleri took to Facebook and praised former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. Aquilina also said that Camilleri behaved in a "subservient manner" when he offered his resignation to the government during the last election. He said he will file the case in his personal capacity as "the law doesn't allow me to do otherwise."

The Information and Data Protection Appeals Tribunal (IDPA), chaired by Camilleri, held a sitting on Tuesday morning to continue hearing Repubblika's evidence over its request to be provided with a list of the people who were recommended to be part of the FIAU board of governors back in 2014.

This list would include former deputy commissioner Silvio Valletta who was chosen by former Finance Minister, Edward Scicluna. Valletta later retired from the force and the FIAU board in 2019 amidst reports of conflicts of interest given his then marriage to a government minister. 

Up until 2014, then Assistant Commissioner Pierre Calleja was always featured on the list submitted by the Commissioner of Police, Aquilina said.

The FIAU's board of governors has its members appointed every three years. Public officials, including the Commissioner of Police, are required to nominate at least 3 people to the Finance Minister to represent them. Out of these, one is chosen by the Finance Minister.

During the case on Tuesday morning, Repubblika summoned former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar to testify.

When asked by Repubblika lawyer, Sarah Cannataci, who drew up the list of nominees for the board of governors for the FIAU, Cutajar said that he could not answer that because he became police commissioner in 2016. But when he was asked about the updated list in 2017, he said that he wanted to see the document which had not been exhibited because he did not want to rely on memory.

"I would like to see documents to confirm, I don't want to rely on memory," Cutajar said.

Cannataci asked Cutajar about the grades of nominees who were nominated and she pointed out that the law does not impose a limit on grades. Cutajar agreed, but he said that normal practice would be that the nominees are selected from the ranks of Superintendent and above.

In his testimony, Scicluna said that the minister has the responsibility to nominate FIAU board members. He also said that he trusts that the three people who would be nominated would be eligible and qualified for the role.

Scicluna said that ranking was not involved, any one of the three could have been selected because he trusted that they were all eligible candidates put forward by the commissioner of police.

When asked by Repubblika's lawyer about the basis of Scicluna's decisions to select Valletta to be on the FIAU's governance board, he said that he practised the right of a minister to nominate someone.

"It was my prerogative and I don't need to justify it," Scicluna said.

The Tribunal asked Cannataci to give some context to her questions. She brought up Scicluna's previous testimony during the public inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, on 2 August 2020, where Scicluna stated that Valletta was chosen because of his seniority.

Cannataci bound herself to exhibit a legal copy of Scicluna's testimony before the public inquiry within 15 days.

Last to testify was former deputy commissioner of police, Pierre Calleja and he was asked by Cannataci if he ever considered retiring in the past.

He recalled a time in 2011 when he considered it, however, he said that he was always overcome by his sense of duty.

The case will resume on 4 October.