The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), have said that over half of the recommendations on preventing corruption in members of parliament and members of the judiciary remain partly implemented.

GRECO, which is the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption monitoring body, said in an addendum to their report that four out of the nine recommendations made to the country had been implemented satisfactorily, but that five others remain partly implemented and hence remain pending.

The first recommendation which remains partly implemented relates to “a thorough review of the current provisions of the Code of Ethics for members of parliament and the Standing Orders related to integrity, ethics, financial/activity declarations and conflicts of interest be undertaken with a view to adopting improvements that will provide more subject matter coverage, consistency and clarity, as well as guidance.”

On this point, GRECO said that it had already been party implemented with the adoption of the Standards in Public Life Act – which saw the creation of the office of the Commissioner for Standards, currently occupied by George Hyzler, but that the review of the Code of Ethics however remains pending.

To this end, GRECO noted that the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has submitted proposals on the revised codes of ethics for MP’s and ministers to the Standing Committee on Standards for consideration.

These proposals, in particular, refer to GRECO’s recommendations from the Fourth and Fifth Evaluation Rounds in respect of Malta and aim inter alia at addressing the shortcomings leading to these recommendations, they said.

“The draft Code of Ethics for Members of the House of Representatives is accompanied by draft Guidelines focussing on gifts, benefits and hospitality, registration of financial and other interests and declaration of possible conflicts of interest.”

The second and third recommendations are related to the first, and call for the appropriate supervision and enforcement of the rules on the declaration of assets, financial interests and outside activities, and the standards of ethics and conflicts of interest provisions applicable to members of parliament, while also recommending the establishment of “a dedicated source of confidential counselling to provide parliamentarians with advice on ethical questions, conflicts of interest in relation to their legislative duties, as well as financial declaration obligations” and providing regular awareness to parliamentarians on issues such as ethics, conflicts of interest, acceptance of gits and other matters.

On these points, GRECO had noted that they were partly implemented as the Act on Standards in Public Life did not provide sufficiently dissuasive sanctions, such as the possibility of expulsion and/or fines for late filing, false filing or failure to file the required financial reports under the Code of Ethics.  

In its addendum, GRECO noted “that the draft Code of Ethics for members of parliament contains provisions on ethics and conflicts of interest. However, the draft contains no provisions regarding sanctions and their effective enforcement in case of violations, which was specifically indicated in this recommendation.”

GRECO said that it “is not convinced that the ‘reputational damage’ alone is equivalent to ‘effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions.’”

They also noted that while draft legislation on public office holders was a step in the right direction, there was no information on any regular awareness-raising activities for MPs or other activities related to the prevention of corruption and the promotion of integrity within Parliament.

With this in mind, GRECO said that the three recommendations hence remain only partly implemented.

Moving on to another recommendation, where GRECO had recommended “that the system of judicial accountability be significantly strengthened, notably by extending the range of disciplinary sanctions to ensure better proportionality and by improving the transparency of complaints processes.”

GRECO said that while legal amendments whereby Parliament has been removed from the procedure of the dismissal of judges and the Commission for the Administration of Justice has been made fully in charge of judicial discipline procedures, is a satisfying step forward, the outcomes of such proceedings are still not made public.

With no tangible steps to improve the transparency of such procedures in the judiciary, GRECO notes that the recommendation therefore remains partly implemented.

The final recommendation was for a compulsory induction training programme, including consideration of judicial ethics, be developed; that mentoring arrangements for new judges, exploring the ethical implications of appointment, be formalised; and that a regular programme of in-service training be provided along with targeted guidance and counselling on corruption prevention topics and judicial ethics for the various persons required to sit in court (judges, magistrates, and adjudicators of boards and tribunals).

On this point, GRECO said that while some measures are envisaged, they are yet to materialise and therefore the recommendation cannot be said to be dealt with satisfactorily. It hence remains partly implemented.

In conclusion, GRECO said that in view of the fact that five (out of nine) recommendations remain to be implemented fully, they ask the Head of the delegation of Malta to submit additional information regarding the implementation of the pending recommendations by 31 March 2022.

Government reacts: ‘GRECO report praises positive steps in improving judicial system in Malta’  

The government reacted to the report by saying that GRECO had praised the measures which the government had implemented with regards to the judiciary.

The government continues that the improvements made include the removal of Parliament’s involvement in the removal of a member of the judiciary, and it also notes that GRECO makes mention of how Malta is already implementing obligatory ethics training in member sof the judiciary.

Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said that he was proud of the government’s work, and that the work continues to deliver positive results on European and international levels.  He said that it is important to recognise that there is still work to be done and that the justice system always has to be a priority.