9th December has been designated by the United Nations General Assembly as the International Day against Corruption, which undermines the social and economic advancement of nations, Civil Society group Repubblika said.
"Repubblika is concerned about corruption in Malta and how this has spread and captured each of our institutions, and is present in every sphere of our society. Even though corruption is a fact of life, we have reached a dire point where corruption has become institutionalised."
"No one is willing to shoulder any responsibility for their actions, no matter how condemnable. In the past, high level officials used to resign or suspend themselves until their name was cleared when faced with corruption allegations. However, what we are witnessing nowadays is institutional inaction towards those individuals facing corruption allegations, sometimes even despite concrete evidence of their wrong-doing. In other cases, we have witnessed the withholding of outcomes of investigations or inquiries with partial information used to manipulate public opinion. "
On the occasion of Anti-Corruption Day, Repubblika made a number of demands, which include "answers to the people's legitimate questions about the company Egrant and its beneficiary; That the Egrant inquiry report be published and made available to the public in full; To know what has been done by the authorities to find the mastermind behind the brutal assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
They also argue that a full copy of the agreement in virtue by which three public hospitals were passed to a private company be published in full together with a full copy of the contract for the building of the new power station.
Repubblika demand that Minister Konrad Mizzi and OPM Chief of Staff Keith Schembri provide an explanation in relation to alleged payments they were to receive from 17 Black.
They argue that "in view of the evident conflict of interest of Assistant Commissioner Silvio Valletta arising from the fact that he is both spouse of a Government Minister and a member of the Board of Governors of FIAU, he should be removed with immediate effect from any post within FIAU;
They also said that politicians under investigation in connection with corruption allegations should immediately suspend themselves until their position is clarified; and "that the Prime Minister ceases to conjure up smokescreens as a distraction to escape scrutiny and responsibility for his omissions."
"It's with sadness that we write such a statement. There should never be the need for Civil Society to make such demands. We expect all of our politicians, irrespective of their beliefs, who have been elected by us, to fulfil their duties towards the electorate and the general public. We expect them to exercise their powers with a sense of correctness, justice and responsibility."