NEWS | Wednesday, 24 December 2008

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Retired judge reappointed Commissioner for Malta secret service

Retired judge Frank G. Camilleri has been reappointed as Commissioner for the Security Service, the national body that investigates threats to national security.
Camilleri was appointed for a period of two years as from next year. The Commissioner is paid an annual allowance of €6,988.
In his role as Commissioner, he will be expected to monitor the use of the special powers conveyed by the Security Service Act.
Malta employs the use of an independent Commissioner – usually a retired judge or the Attorney General – to receive complaints from the public and to review the home affairs minister’s exercise of the issuing of warrants for interception.
The position is required to be held by a person ‘who holds or has held high judicial office’, to ensure independence from government. However Malta’s law, allows the Attorney General to fill the post if it has not been accorded to a retired judge – a questionable aspect when the AG represents government and assists the police in court cases, although he is regarded as an independent official protected by the Constitution.
Apart from the an independent Commissioner, Britain employs two further rungs of review that serve to act as watchdogs over its secret service apparatus. These include the Complaints Tribunal, made up of three senior members of the legal profession; and the Intelligence and Security Committee, which examines the expenditure, administration and policy of the Security Service, made up of nine MPs appointed by the both the Prime Minister in consultation with the Leader of Opposition –none of them can be ministers.
In complete contrast, Malta’s Security Committee is composed of the Prime Minister, the Home Affairs Minister, the Foreign Affairs Minister and the Leader of the Opposition – given that the committee examines the policy of the Security Service, there is a conflict of interest with the fact that the Home Affairs Minister is responsible for authorising warrants whilst overseeing the actions of the Secret Service.

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