The Nationalist Party today said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has failed to come through on his promise to combat corruption, as he has yet to appoint members to the Permanent Commission against Corruption.

In a statement, the PN said the last Commission’s mandate ended last November, yet the government has failed to appoint a new Commission. The Commission is still receiving complaints that need to be investigated, the PN said.

The Opposition has placed pressure on the government in Parliament to appoint the Commission, but nine months on Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Justice Minister Owen Bonnici have failed to take action.

 

Corruption must be fought through concrete action and not just words, the PN said, and for this reason the government must appoint members to the Commission. 

However in a statement issued by the Ministry of Justice, Culture and Local Government, later the same day, the government responded by suggesting that under previous administrations, while the Commission against Corruption had existed since 1988, there were no cases where a person faced police action based on a report produced by that commission. In their response the government went on to highlight the three laws that it had brought forward in its efforts to clean-up local politics: the law abolishing time-limits for corruption offenses made ??by politicians; the Whistleblower's Act; and the law on party financing.

In their statement the government added that amendments had been made to the criminal code to create incentives for people to report crime, and they stated that as already announced in parliament the government will be appointing a Commission against Corruption to combat corruption. Finally the government pointed out that anyone who knows of any case of corruption has the obligation to report the matter to the police or to a magistrate to take the necessary steps.