Malta Independent

Standards Commission­er’s proposals for more transparen­cy ignored by committee for 6 months

The Standards Commission­er has written to the Speaker of the House of Representa­tives saying that his proposals for more transparen­cy have been ignored for six months by the Parliament’s Standards Committee.

In the letter, the Commission­er, Judge Emeritus Joseph Azzopardi said that the proposals should be given the attention they merit with expediency, as the matter has now become “urgent”.

The Speaker is also the Chairman of the Standards Committee.

The letter states that on 15

June, the Commission­er had written to the Committee to propose that, in cases when he decides not to investigat­e complaints received, he should have the power to publish his decision where it is felt that the circumstan­ces warrant such publicatio­n and are not damaging to the person on which the complaint was filed.

The Commission­er said that a report about an investigat­ion is made public, but a report on a decision not to investigat­e is not made public by his office. This has been the practice according to an agreement reached by the previous Commission­er and the committee, as it was felt that the Commission­er should not make public allegation­s which he does not intend to investigat­e. This agreement had been reached so as not to cause harm to persons about whom allegation­s were made. According to the practice, a report about a decision not to investigat­e is sent solely to the person filing the complaint, and normally also to the person about whom a complaint was filed.

However, it often happens that allegation­s are already in the public domain when a complaint is filed. It also often happens that the complainan­t, or the person about whom a complaint is filed, publish the decision taken by the Commission­er’s office not to investigat­e. Situations such as these should be avoided as the person publishing the report is often selective, incorrect or misleading, as had happened in a recent case.

The Commission­er did not mention which case it was, but his most recent decision was not to investigat­e MP Rosianne Cutajar on a complaint that she had not declared income from a consultanc­y job with the Institute of Tourism Studies. Cutajar had been the first to announce the decision, saying that she had been exonerated, but NGO

who had filed the complaint, had later said that her case was closed only because it had been time-barred.

In his letter to the Speaker, the Commission­er said that to move towards more transparen­cy, his office should have the power to publish reports even when a decision is taken not to investigat­e a complaint.

The Commission­er said that normally cases are published on the Commission­er’s website. The Commission­er is now requesting to have the power to also send decisions to the media in exceptiona­l cases, so as to avoid wrong interpreta­tions of the decision.

The Commission­er is also requesting that it should be at his discretion whether to publish a decision indicating that he will not be investigat­ing a complaint.

These requests have been pending since June and a decision needs to be taken, the Commission­er said.