Michael Falzon and Bank of Valletta violate privacy of ex-bank employees
Government MP Michael Falzon, who is a parliamentary secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, yesterday violated the privacy of his former colleagues at the Bank of Valletta – who are private citizens – by exhibiting in parliament a list, which he could have obtained only in collusion with the bank in violation of the Data Protection Act, of other employees who took up the bank’s early retirement scheme.
A reader has emailed in this regard:
We have really hit rock bottom. A Parliamentary Secretary within the Office of the Prime Minister tables in parliament sensitive personal information which he illegally sourced from the Bank of Valletta to cover his massive blunder of a unique get-rich-quick retirement scheme. This list clearly infringes data protection legislation.
The prime minister should immediately dismiss this PS who has created one embarrassment after the other. If he doesn’t, the theory that Michael Falzon can bite back/blackmail Muscat holds true.
As for the Bank of Valletta, it should immediately launch a serious investigation as to how such sensitive personal information was leaked out of the bank to a politician.
Shareholders and customers of the bank now expect it to identify the culprit and to summarily dismiss him or her. The thought that it might actually be a decision taken at the highest (political) level of the bank is too horrific to countenance.
This is a breach of trust that any serious individual should find unacceptable. Banks stand for the protection of privacy.