Commissioner orders tenor to publish contracts on public funds received

Tenor Joseph Calleja must submit all contracts related to his agreement with the government regarding his concerts, which taxpayers support through government funds, the Information Commissioner has ruled.

The Shift filed a Freedom of Information request in July 2023. The public authority answered seven months later, in breach of rules stipulating an answer should be received within 20 days. The Commissioner slammed the authority for its late reply.

In the answer received seven months later, the public authority “submitted answers by Tenor Joseph Calleja’s team”, refusing the request.

Calleja’s management team in Malta argued that the information was “intrinsically confidential” and that “revealing payment structures and amounts could skew the market perception of Calleja’s worth.”

The Shift argued that while Calleja’s talent was appreciated, the public authority failed to follow the law. This newsroom requested information on public funds awarded without any transparency or competition.

This newsroom also argued that the contracts may also include obligations on the part of the artist that may require scrutiny.

Further, the commercial and business effects of Calleja’s management are tied to every other artist or individual who accepts to enter into such agreements with any government entity.

There was no excuse for a public authority not to be scrutinised or transparent, especially when involving an international artist who can easily organise concerts without the public’s help, The Shift argued.

The commissioner’s office held an on-site inspection on 18 June after chastising the public authority for taking seven months to answer the request.

Commissioner Ian Deguara rebuffed arguments that the information should not be provided, saying that if artists entered into contracts with a public authority using taxpayer funds, they must expect to be scrutinised.

The Malta Tourism Authority has consistently refused to provide information on the subsidies he receives for every concert.

“The Commissioner highlights that whoever enters into a contract with a public authority should have the expectation that the information could be subject to a freedom of information request and possibly disclosed to the public,” Deguara said in his decision.

He said claims that an individual’s reputation could be damaged were insufficient. An assessment of the harm that would or could affect the individual due to the disclosure of the requested information must be submitted.

“The Commissioner is of the view that the harm which the public authority intends to protect should be sufficiently specific and concrete, and not merely speculative or remote.”

The Commissioner concluded that it is not sufficient for the Public Authority to merely claim to be protected from disclosure by an article of the law but must clearly show how that disclosure of information would cause harm to the legitimate aim.

“In a functioning democratic society, the public should be entitled to receive information as to how public funds are being utilised by public authorities. This places the Public Authority under the obligation of transparency and accountability,” the Commissioner ruled.

Deguara ruled that all information must be presented within 20 working days. Calleja can still appeal the decision.

Since the Labour Party came to power, Calleja has received hundreds of thousands of euros (a conservative estimate) for his concerts.

Initially, the reason given for the use of taxpayer funds for the tenor’s concerts was that they would be open to the public free of charge, although ‘the public’ was made to stand at the back while the organisers still charged hefty amounts for seats.

That public access has since been withdrawn, with organisers charging exorbitant prices despite government funding.