Standards Commissioner George Hyzler told Economy Minister Silvio Schembri that there is no need to make a story out of a complaint over his use of the Department of Information for a political statement, Silvio Schembri told this newsroom.
Schembri was asked about a conclusion reached by the Standards Commissioner, where Hyzler found that Schembri had committed a breach of ethics by using the DOi to make a partisan statement.
While replying, Schembri also referred to a constitutional case LovinMalta has opened against party media, where he noted that Hyzler said that partisan statements should be reserved to party media but that at the same time some are trying to get that party media closed down.
“If a politician cannot comment on party media or on any other media, I think that this is being done to try and silence politicians,” Schembri said of the case.
On Tuesday, Dr George Hyzler, Commissioner for Standards in Public Life, issued a statement in which he stated that that official press releases issued through the Department of Information (DOI) should not include partisan political statements.
Hyzler came to this conclusion after considering a complaint by Kevin Cassar against Schembri, concerning a press statement issued by the minister through the DOI on 8 October 2020.
The Malta Independent asked Schembri if he agrees with the Commissioner’s statement that DOI should not be used for propaganda.
He said that when he met with the Commissioner about the complaints, Hyzler told him that there is no need to make a story out of this. “However, since there was a complaint, he had to issue a conclusion on it which in fact he did where he said that no further action needs to be taken after hearing my reply to the situation.”
In his statement, the Commissioner said that he had upheld the complaint and closed the case after receiving a statement from Schembri acknowledging that his press statement “might have been considered overly partisan” and undertaking to “make every effort to avoid such statements when these are issued through the DOI”.
Having said this, Schembri also noted something else from Hyzler’s statement which he linked to the constitutional case that Lovin Malta plans to file to declare that party TV stations are unconstitutional and should close.
“The Commissioner said in his statement is that if a politician wants to make any political statements, they should make use of party media. However, at the same time, there are people who intend to shut down party media. So, if a politician cannot comment on party media or on any other media, I think that this is being done to try and silence politicians,” the Minister remarked.
During last summer, LovinMalta started a campaign through ‘Kaxxaturi’ which has racked up over €7,000 in funds form concerned citizens. The newsroom has said that it has already notified the government about taking action in this regard and it plans to file the case during this month.