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NEWS | Wednesday, 19 November 2008

PN officials defend request for sensitive information

But Gonzi’s personal secretary reiterates that ministers must not share personal data with party


Nationalist Party high officials on the administrative council have defended the PN secretary-general’s request for sensitive information from government ministers, justifying it as a way to “increase efficiency” and customer care.
The president of the PN’s General Council, Victor Scerri, said he was aware of the information-sharing between government and the party.
“It’s done to facilitate people’s queries,” Scerri said. “It’s not a question of the party getting data from the government, but of centralising government’s queries so that people get replies to their concerns.”
Scerri denied that the PN was seeking confidential information from government ministries, even though the prime minister’s head of secretariat’s email in reply to Paul Borg Olivier raised suspicions that the party was after the illegal compilation of data.
In an email to ministers and PN high officials sent on 11 November, Edgar Galea Curmi informed them that “under no circumstances should there be any information sharing about clients seeking ministries’ services unless within the context of the legal provisions related to data protection,” in reply to Borg Olivier’s request last week.
Asked to clarify what prompted him to write back to Borg Olivier, Galea Curmi said yesterday: “I decided to write the email I wrote to clarify any misunderstandings that could have been created by Paul Borg Olivier’s email. I wanted to emphasize with my colleagues that highest standards of data protection procedures should continue to be followed at all times. No, Ministers do not share personal data unless so authorized by the individual concerned.”
However, Borg Olivier’s email was also inadvertently sent to a person outside the inner circle of PN and government officials, which seems to have prompted an immediate damage control exercise by Galea Curmi to remind ministers not to disclose such personal data.
According to Scerri, Borg Olivier “took the initiative” of proposing to government ways of tackling complaints efficiently and in a centralised manner.
“It’s normal for us to send people with particular queries to government ministries or departments and follow them up,” Scerri said. “When I raise an issue with government I expect a reply, telling me whether what the person wants is legitimate or not. Borg Olivier’s idea is to perfect the system.”
Marthese Portelli, the president of the PN’s executive, was also of the opinion that Borg Olivier’s request was “to increase efficiency and co-ordination”.
Portelli said she would not speak about what is discussed within the party.
“I can only say that everything is carried out within the ambit of the Data Protection Act,” she said – a claim that remains to be verified, especially in view of the fact that no new Data Protection Commissioner has been appointed since Paul Mifsud Cremona passed away last August.
Meanwhile the parliamentary whip for the government’s bench, David Agius, said he never recalled the party’s administrative council discussing any form of information-sharing with the government since he was involved last May.
“We have never discussed this on the administrative council and I can’t really say anything about this as it’s something totally new to me,” Agius said.
Reacting to MaltaToday’s story last Sunday, Opposition leader Joseph Muscat accused the PN and government of a “network of espionage” and called on the prime minister to make a declaration to clarify the issue.
“Last week I clearly asked the prime minister whether he would confirm that personal data of citizens who would have approached government departments, ministers and parliamentary secretaries were being passed on to the PN,” Muscat said. “He kept absolute silence, but the story published today shows that the PN’s secretary-general issued instructions so that personal details are passed on to the party. This is scandalous and a shame. This cannot go on as if nothing happened. It is unacceptable to have Paul Borg Olivier illegally gathering information about private citizens.”

Data protection
Contrary to popular perception, Maltese political parties are not exempt from the Data Protection Act (DPA), and need the subjects’ consent in order to legally maintain their own databases of personal information about individuals.
Political parties, like the church and other non-commercial associations, may process personal data within certain parameters, but only regarding their own members, and even then only with the members’ active consent.
Officially, both the Labour and Nationalist parties deny possessing illegal databases accrued from (among other sources) the activity of street-leaders appointed by the party to report on the presumed voting intentions of individual citizens in any locality.
This would also render illegal the processing of complaints from citizens, such as those lodged with the Inland Revenue Department or the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, to be exchanged with the party.

 

 


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