There is no automatic immunity. The punishment may be reduced and in exceptional cases the whistle-blower may be exempted completely from any punishment.

I doubt whether the three persons which Malta Today claims to be whistle-blowers can in fact be recognised as whistleblowers for the purposes of the legislation.

The internal officer receiving the report is required to pass it on to the relevant authorities i.e. the police in the case of illegalities (and certainly not to the media).

It appears that the second and third whistleblower came forward these past days, incidentally after Joseph Muscat appealed for more people to come forward.

There are two ways how the information could have reached the media so quickly. Either (i) they went directly to the media in which case they are not whistle-blowers for the purpose of the legislation (ii) the officials to whom they made their report abdicated their responsibilities. The former option is more likely.

Because of the timing and the way the supposed whistleblowing was carried out, this has the hallmarks of a political assassination under the guise of whistleblowing.