No more heroes any more? The whistle-blowing dilemma : recent developments and a fresh look at some conceptual and legal issues

Abstract

I have addressed the subject of whistle-blowing on numerous occasions during these past fifteen years, mostly in University lectures, seminars and published articles. This paper seeks to update and further develops the concerns, themes and proposals first articulated in Fabri (2002) but from a broader conceptual and practical perspective. This paper takes a new look at the whistle-blowing phenomenon and the growing list of true tales, recent media reports and literature on this truly fascinating subject. Starting with snap shot references to a couple of episodes from the Old Testament, it brings together diverse experiences and developments which in unexpected ways somehow manage to link the past with the present, the local with the foreign. The paper argues that whistleblowing should not be examined in isolation but rather in context because, like law itself, it is not an end in itself. The subject has significant moral and practical implications concerning one's personal ethical choices and the protection of the public interest. This last aspect can best be examined in the context of contemporary concerns with good corporate governance and with how public sector and commercial bodies conduct themselves. This paper also suggests that the term whistle-blowing is often used incorrectly and should henceforth be reserved exclusively to voluntary disclosures. A selective annotated bibliography at the end of the paper may hopefully guide readers interested in accessing further relevant materials on the subject. For cogent reasons of space, a comprehensive re-appraisal of the 1985 European Court of Justice judgment given in the case that Stanley Adams instituted against the European Commission will have to be deferred to another occasion. Although originally intended as an integral part of the present paper, only very brief references to this leading case can be made here. The judgment tackled the Commission's liability in damages. Adams is one of the world's most famous whistle-blowers. What is much less known is that he was a Maltese national.