Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat should not face sanctions over his role in the granting of a consultancy role to Konrad Mizzi within the Malta Tourism Authority as he is no longer a member of parliament, the government’s representatives on the Parliamentary Committee for Standards in Public Life.
Standard Commissioner George Hyzler’s report, which was conducted after a compliant by Alternattiva Demokratika chairperson Carmelo Cacopardo, highlighted how Muscat had instructed that Mizzi be given an €80,000 per-year consultancy with the MTA only days after Mizzi stepped down from Cabinet.
Hyzler found that this had constituted an abuse of power and a breach of the ministerial code of ethics on Muscat’s part.
While both sides of the parliamentary divide – with Edward Zammit Lewis and Byron Camilleri representing the government and Karol Aquilina and Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici representing the opposition – agreed to adopt the report, there were divergences over whether Muscat should be sanctioned for his acts.
During a committee session early Tuesday morning, both sides of the House agreed on adopting the Hyzler report. This decision came after discussions on whether Muscat as an ex-member of parliament should answer for the accusations made in January 2020.
Nationalist MPs argued that although Muscat was no longer a member of parliament, his actions were committed during his term as Prime Minister.
On the other hand, the government MPs argued that since the report submitted by Cacopardo was by “20 minutes after Muscat’s resignation”, the committee should not be concerned by the prospect of sanctioning Muscat. Zammit Lewis and Camilleri both argued that the committee should only concern itself with people who fall under Article 3 in Parliamentary Law – these people being members of parliament.
Zammit Lewis went on to explain that since the investigation on the matter has already started, the due process of this should go on. He also says that “although the investigation should continue, there cannot be any ruling against Muscat since he does not form part of Article 3 under Parliamentary Law”.
In response, Aquilina stated that the accusations were made about actions done by Muscat during his time as an MP. Therefore, he said, this committee, whose sole task is investigating abuse of power, has every right to proceed with every means possible.
Both Nationalist MPs pushed for Muscat to be told to answer questions on the report and its findings before the committee. On this suggestion, Labour MPs stated that such a thing would be redundant given that the report was submitted after Muscat’s resignation.
At the end of the committee session, both sides agreed to adopt Hyzler’s report on the matter.
When Labour MPs adopted the report Zammit Lewis stated that “at this stage, given the applicability of certain sanctions contemplated in Article 28 of Parliamentary Law, they do not apply for people who are accused as long as they do not fall under the definition of Article 3 of the same law in the moment that the report in question was published.”
Speaker Anglu Farrugia – who chaired the meeting – now has three months to hand down a ruling on whether Muscat will face any sanctions.