Former official Jonathan Ferris denied whistle-blower status

attended previously “did not exonerate” him from “the obligation to make the disclosure in writing”.

Ferris had met Massa in Valletta and handed over documents which he said amply justified the granting of whistleblower status, as the same documents had been subject to a request by the Attorney General for their removal from the Industrial Tribunal case on the grounds that they were “a national security threat”, and due to the fact that they contained classified and privileged information subject to professional secrecy under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Later that month, on 24 January, Ferris was asked by Massa to provide “relative documentation evidencing that he had attempted to make an internal disclosure with the whistleblower reporting officer of the Internal Disclosure Unit in the Ministry of Finance”. The next day his lawyers replied, reminding Massa of the Prime Minister’s statement to the visiting MEPs that Ferris would be granted whistleblower protection. They explained that he had been prevented from making an internal disclosure by his sudden and unexpected dismissal from the FIAU.

Notwithstanding this, Massa had insisted on being provided with evidence of an attempted internal disclosure by Ferris’ legal team. They had replied by accusing him of placing unnecessary obstacles in Ferris’ path and quoting Articles 15 and 16 of the Whistleblowers Act which permit external disclosure without prior internal disclosure.

What followed was an exchange of correspondence in which Massa steadfastly insisted on being provided with evidence of an attempt at internal disclosure, which the lawyers described as “a dialogue with a deaf State”. On 15 February, Ferris’ legal team had replied that even the Whistleblower Officer at the Ministry of Justice had told them to make an external disclosure. Two weeks later, on 2 March, Massa had written to Ferris once again, urging him to make an internal disclosure – a puzzling request in view of the fact that he was no longer an FIAU employee – and warning that failure to do so would result in him being refused whistleblower status.

“These facts show that the protested parties moved, in a manner that cannot but be described as malicious and conniving, the goalposts whenever the protestant showed that he was abiding by the law.”

The judicial protest accuses Minister Owen Bonnici of “lying to MEPs’ faces” when he had assured a delegation investigating the Rule of Law in Malta that there would be no dragging of feet in granting Ferris protection.

In view of the Prime Minister’s and Justice Minister’s repeated public assurances that protection would be granted, as Malta is a state under the rule of law which respects the principles of good governance and transparency, they now had “a legal and moral obligation to give effect to their own words” and not tolerate Massa’s actions any longer, according to the protest, which was signed by lawyers Roselyn Borg, Jason Azzopardi and Andrew Borg Cardona.