In his opening remarks this evening in parliament, Parliamentary Secretary for Justice Owen Bonnici said that he felt proud to have been requested by the Prime Minister to draft and submit in parliament the new administration’s first Bill - one that is highly important for our country.
“I feel proud like every Maltese citizen who has the country’s best interests at heart and truly believes in an open democratic society that I am discussing the removal of prescription on corruption charges for politicians,” he said.
Prior to the election, Labour pledged that prescription would be removed on crimes involving the corruption and bribery of politicians, if entrusted to govern.
“This is a step forward for our country which should better strengthen our European democratic credentials.
“The present government’s policies emerge from its clear vision that it fully believes in honesty and accountability and believe that politicians are trusted by the people to lead the country and should set an example.
“Therefore we believe in politicians that are responsible and accountable and above all, are transparent in their actions.
“We want to ensure zero tolerance on corruption and therefore the government wants to introduce laws that provide sound checks and balances that stop all sorts of abuse by politicians who are entrusted with government powers, subjecting politicians to legal restraints,” he said.
Dr Bonnici said that whether or not politicians are caught red-handed conducting corrupt practices all depends on the effectiveness of our legal system.
“Therefore, the government is committed to continue introducing other laws, this Bill being our first step forward.
He said that the government intends putting forward other bills, specifically the Whistleblower Act and the Party Financing Act.
“It is only through scrutiny and vigilance that corruption can be detected and brought to light.
“Any politician who conducts such practice will not only be disrespecting the position but also tarnishes the image of his or her fellow colleagues,” Dr Bonnici highlighted.
According to the Euro Barometer survey special report on corruption, 88% of Maltese citizens believe that corruption is a problem in Malta and is the most prevalent in the Housing Authority (60%), politicians (52%) and the judiciary (49%).
“We must therefore ask ourselves why people have such a negative perception on politicians and other public officials where more than half of the Maltese population believes that we politicians are corrupt and don’t seem to have trust in all the pillars of democracy,” he lamented.
Dr Bonnici expressed disappointment over the PN’s failure to at least make reference to the removal of prescription on political corruption for MPs in its electoral programme.
Despite Dr Gonzi promising several times that he would introduce this law while serving as Prime Minister for all these years, in the end he did not find time to do so, he said.