What's happening in the court case vs C-Planet (IT Solutions) Limited?

In March 2020, independent Maltese media reported that a database containing 337,384 records of Maltese voters’ personal information was freely accessible online for at least a year. The database was left exposed by C-Planet (IT Solutions) Ltd.

Evidence and testimony presented in court show that the CEO of Untours Ltd, Ivan Vladimir Buttigieg, had provided the database to C-Planet and that:

• activists and members of the Labour Party had access to the database or were involved in creating it;
• the database was used as a Labour Party campaign tool and was distributed to potential candidates to be able to analyse their electoral base;
• the chief permanent secretary of the civil service who was or is involved in the IT systems and strategies of the Labour Party, especially during elections, had access to the database and has referred to it.

In November this year, the plaintiffs in the case requested the court to bring in the Labour Party and the State Attorney, as a representative of the Maltese government, as additional co-defendants.

The court has now ruled that, in the interests of justice, there are sufficient reasons to accept the request and has ordered that the Labour Party and the State Attorney be admitted to the case as co-defendants, alongside C-Planet (IT Solutions) Ltd.

The next sitting is on 13 January at 9.30am.

Background

The exposed data included names, addresses, ID card details, dates of birth, fixed and mobile phone numbers as well as a reference to political orientation or voting preferences.

We collaborated with Repubblika to collect signatures of those whose data protection rights were breached. The suit against C-Planet (IT Solution) Limited, filed in October 2020, involves a total of 620 claimants. The court case (nr. 912/2020) is ongoing.