ICO notches up first successful FoI prosecution
A town clerk in the English county of Shropshire has been the subject of the first ever successful Freedom of Information prosecution after lying to a member of the public who made an FoI request.
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Mike Shaw, the ICO’s group manager in enforcement, said in a statement: “People should have trust and confidence that they can access public information without the danger of it being doctored, fabricated or corrupted in any way.”
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Destroying public records in response to FoI requests is a crime under section 77(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which makes it illegal to deliberately obstruct access to public records “with the intent to prevent disclosure.” A similar offence exists in section 100H(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended, and, unlike the FoI offence, a prosecution can be brought by any public body or private person instead of being restricted to the Information Commissioner and the Director of Public Prosecutions alone.
Read more:
The Register, March 18, 2020