Caretaker governments should not be allowed to pass new laws and issue permits or allocate government land and housing, a draft Bill drawn up by the Opposition proposes.

The draft Bill is one of twelve put forward yesterday by Opposition Leader Bernard Grech. Speaking at a press conference, Grech said the aim of the proposed laws is to fight corruption and to implement the recommendations of the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry.

The party is proposing amendments to the Constitution which would see the powers of a caretaker government limited, in order to prevent the government from abusing its powers on the eve of an election, to the detriment of the Opposition. The term caretaker is used for a government between the dissolution of Parliament and the election of a new administration.

The proposed Bill states that no decisions shall be taken that bind a new Cabinet in a way that it would be unable to undo such a measure.

Where an urgent decision needs to be taken, the Prime Minister may only do so after obtaining the Opposition Leader’s “unconditional” approval in writing. Both the PM’s request and the Opposition Leader’s approval would have to be published in the government gazette within a week.

Binding decisions include making subsidiary legislation, bringing into force legislation, implementing major policy initiatives, making appointments, entering into major binding contracts during this time.

“During this period, no permits, permissions, authorisations, licenses, concessions, privileges, dispensations, general or specific amnesties, shall be granted by any body corporate established by law. Nor shall any allocations of government land or housing be made,” the Bill proposes.

 

‘Six months of inaction’ - Grech

Speaking about the 12 draft Bills, Grech said the PN was putting them forward to implement action after six months of “total inaction” from the government.

“The reasons as to why Malta was placed on the grey list are clear. This was due to the abuse of power by a number of Maltese politicians who still hold their position in government. Despite this, Robert Abela has continously remained silent in the face of these conclusions,” Grech said.

He added that, as a result, the PN has unanimously approved a package of 12 legislative bills to implement the public inquiry’s findings and address issues of good governance.

“We are hopeful that this package will not only be following what the judges recommended but it will also give the people better governance. We are presenting them today as we want to get our country off the FATF grey list immediately,” Grech said.

Among the 12 bills, there are proposals which protect people against organised crime and provide better equipment for the police in serious crime investigations and allow for the maximum period of arrest to be extended from 48 to 72 hours with the approval of the inquiring magistrate.

Grech said that among the bills, the Nationalist Party aims to provide the highest possible protection for the right to free journalism and provide protection against SLAPP suits which are intended to deter a journalist from performing his or her duties.

A bill which seeks to establish a special inquiring magistrate who focuses solely on corruption by public officers is also included in the package. This would also allow the magistrate to initiate an investigation into the matter without anyone else’s authorisation.

The PN is also proposing new laws against abuse by public officials and dereliction of duty.

It also proposed a new law on unexplained wealth orders.

The PN is also proposing making it a crime for public officers to use their private email addresses for govenrment work, seeks to introduce laws against conflicts of interest, and proposes introducing a law to criminalise associations with mafia-life characters.

The 12 legislative bills mentioned must be approved by MPs in order to become law.

 

Government, PL reactions

The government, in reaction, said it is not true that the government has not done anything on the inquiry recommendations.

The OPM has consulted with entities involved, including academics and journalists, as well as internationa institutions, to set up a committee as suggested by the inquiry.

The government said the Opposition Leader must known about this exercise.

In some of these meetings, bills aimed to protect journalists were also presented.

The fruit of such consultation exercise will be announced in the coming days, the government said.

In a one-paragraph reaction, the Labour Party said that Grech can speak as much as he likes about governance. But when asked about the non-payment of tax and he justifies it because it was also his "sin" his biggest problem emerges - that of credibility.