A freedom of information act request made by the Times of Malta to determine the true cost of the recent and controversial film awards ceremony was denied by the relevant commission.
Commissioner Johann Grech gave a very flat statement to journalists stating only that the event would be “value for money” and nothing more. Promises have been made to publish the true costs. The event, some critics say, could have overrun the entire budget allocated to the island’s actual film-industry, currently standing at a measly €600,000.
With the estimates of the overspending ranging from €400,000 to a million euros, other requests such as the one made by the Daphne Caruana Galizia foundation to find out the sum paid to comedian David Walliams to host the show, have also been shot down. The reason the commission cited when rejecting the FOI request by the Times was that the paperwork was ‘yet to be compiled’.
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