We have the secret agreement that Konrad Mizzi signed with SOCAR
04 September 2022
We have obtained a copy of the LNG Security of Supply Agreement that Konrad Mizzi had signed with SOCAR, an undisclosed state guarantee for Electrogas that Joseph Muscat’s government kept hidden from public view, including from banks and the European Commission.
Getting hold of the secret agreement took a year-long Freedom of Information battle with Miriam Dalli’s Ministry, which originally rejected our freedom of information request for access to the potentially unlawful agreement. We filed a complaint about that refusal with the Information and Data Protection Commisioner, who then decided in our favour.
The Information and Data Protection Commissioner found that the Ministry for Environment, Energy, and Enterprise had no grounds to use any of the FOI Act exemptions it had listed as reasons for refusing our request, and decided that the Ministry must grant us access to the secret agreement. We have now received a copy of the document.
The Shift have published a complete analysis, following up on an investigation based on emails leaked from Electrogas to Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Public authorities repeatedly deny access to information by refusing FOI requests on spurious grounds. The Foundation is challenging the FOI Act in Malta’s Constitutional Court. The court case aims to limit state authorities’ arbitrary refusals to provide information in the public interest and to reverse the culture of secrecy behind their claims of privacy and commercial sensitivity, enabling public interest journalism to hold power to account.