Justyne Caruana is only the latest in a list of Labour politicians who were found to have breached ethical standards in their behaviour in public life.
Caruana resigned in the week leading up to Christmas after the Standards Commissioner established that she had not acted appropriately when, as Education Minister, she had awarded a €15,000 contract to a “friend”, Daniel Bogdanovic.
The commissioner, George Hyzler, ruled that Bogdanovic was “neither qualified nor competent enough” to carry out the job, which was to draw up a report on ways to improve the National Sport School.
Caruana had initially resisted calls for her to quit, but she finally gave in to hand in her resignation – which was her second in this legislature.
She had resigned in January 2020 only days after being appointed Minister for Gozo by new Prime Minister Robert Abela, after it was revealed that her then husband Silvio Valletta, a former deputy police commissioner, had travelled abroad with the man who was later accused of being a mastermind in the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
That time, Caruana was the unfortunate victim of what she had then said were “extraneous” circumstances. This time, her downfall was her own doing.
Contestation
She is now arguing, in a court case that she has filed, that the law establishing the office of the Standards Commissioner lacks the safeguards necessary to ensure that a person who is being investigated is given a fair hearing. The commissioner, according to her lawyers, is given “unfettered discretion” from beginning to end.
Her lawsuit is arguing that the law in question does not give the person investigated the right to appeal, neither does it give him or her the right to remain silent. The court is being asked to declare that Chapter 570 of the Laws of Malta is unconstitutional and for the commissioner’s report to be annulled.
Caruana had a different view of the law when she, as an MP, was debating it in Parliament before it was enacted. Then, she had been full of praise for what she described as a “monumental” piece of legislation that the Labour government was bringing forward.
The government, she had said at the time, “had been careful to observe the principles of natural justice, which are basic and fundamental in all judicial procedures”. She had added that the law saw that “no rights of anyone potentially involved in the procedures are prejudiced”. In the drawing up of the legislation, high standards of democratic principles were adopted while rules of checks and balances were established, she had said.
So, for Caruana, the law was good at the time it was being compiled and debated in Parliament. Until that same law was applied to her. Then it was not good anymore.
Powers
Where the law is lacking is in other aspects, such as the limited powers that the Standard Commissioner has in the implementation of his rulings. Many media outlets refer to him as a czar, probably to find a shorter word for commissioner for the limited space in headlines, but his powers are far from being all-encompassing.
There is a huge stumbling block at the level of the parliamentary standards committee, which has more often than not defended the people who were found to have been in breach.
This committee is made up of two MPs from the government side, and two MPs from the opposition side, with the Speaker of the House of Representatives as its head. This inevitably leads to many situations in which the head of the committee must be the one who shifts the balance one way or the other, considering that very often the government and opposition members do not agree on the way matters should proceed.
In this sense, the Speaker, Anglu Farrugia, has often been accused of taking the government’s side when it came to crunch-time – that is, when the committee was to take its decision.
On one occasion, the Speaker had ruled that the commissioner should not have investigated the 2019 lock-up of journalists at Castille since the case had been subject to a criminal investigation.
In another instance, the Speaker was criticised for ruling that former Prime Minister could not be summoned before the committee on the basis that Muscat was no longer an MP. Muscat had been found to have breached ethics when Konrad Mizzi had been appointed as a consultant to the Malta Tourism Authority days after Mizzi had resigned from the post of Tourism Minister.
In yet another moment of controversy, the Speaker had abstained on a report by the commissioner which had found that Minister Carmelo Abela had been in breach of parliamentary ethics over a newspaper advert which used public funds to boost the minister’s personal image, rather than provide useful information to the public.
Effects
There have been times when the reports drawn up by the commissioner led to some kind of action being taken. Caruana’s situation was one of them.
Another MP, Rosianne Cutajar, gave up her post as parliamentary secretary in the wake of a decision by Hyzler that she had failed to declare income from the sale of a property in Mdina. Here again, the Speaker was in the eye of a storm after what should have been a “stern reprimand” turned out to be simply a letter informing Cutajar about the committee’s decision.
But, deep down, there is little else that the Standards Commissioner could do, and is allowed to do.
He has ruled that official government press releases issued through the Department of Information should not include partisan political statements. But we still regularly receive statements containing blatant propaganda.
Hyzler has also ruled that persons of trust should not comment on matters of political controversy and should treat others with respect. But just scroll down social media platforms to see how many times people whose salaries are paid for from public money are involved in (sometimes heated) exchanges with private citizens.
He has found that it is widespread practice for ministers to use public resources in the generation of content for their personal pages on Facebook and other social media. This, he ruled, is an abuse because the ministers are using public resources to raise their personal and political profiles. Has this abuse stopped?
The idea to have a commissioner for standards was to have a watchdog over the ethical behaviour of Members of Parliament and persons of trust employed in government ministries.
Investigations carried out by the commissioner since the establishment of the office three years ago have uncovered several breaches. But the reports drawn up have rarely led to some kind of action being taken against offenders.
A few months ago, a two-year project was launched with the aim of improving standards in public life, including a better code of ethics for MPs, and introducing better practices for lobbying transparency and asset declarations. The project, by the office of the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life, is supported by the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
One looks forward to the outcome in the hope that it will lead to better standards and, most of all, more power for the standards commissioner to intervene when the situation warrants it.
With the election on its way, in their election manifesto political parties should come up with recommendations on how to increase the power given to the commissioner, and how, once investigations are concluded, they should not continue to find stumbling blocks by the same parliamentarians the commissioner is asked to investigate.
Maybe the commissioner’s rulings should be brought before a committee which is not made up of MPs. That would be a step forward.
Highlights from Standards Commissioner decisions
July 2019
The Commissioner called for an end to the practice of giving backbench members of Parliament jobs or consultancies with the government. The report describes the practice as “fundamentally wrong”.
The Commissioner concluded that this practice dilutes Parliament’s role of scrutinising the executive; goes against the underlying principles of the Constitution; goes against the code of ethics for public employees and board members; places MPs in a position of financial dependence on the executive and hence reduces the independence of MPs; discriminates between government and opposition MPs and gives government MPs an advantage over opposition MPs; overly politicises statutory bodies and distorts their independence from the government of the day; exacerbates the questionable practice of appointment of persons of trust, that possibly goes against article 110 of the Constitution; and creates unnecessary jobs, or else fills genuine vacancies with persons who are not necessarily best suited for that job, against principles of transparency and meritocracy.
The report was instigated by a complaint from MP Godfrey Farrugia.
August 2019
The Commissioner called on ministers and the Department of Information (DOI) not to issue press statements that are unrelated to official matters or that are partisan in tone.
Hyzler’s report dealt with a press statement issued by the Ministry for Tourism. The statement announced that Minister Konrad Mizzi was withdrawing a number of libel cases he had instituted to contest allegations of money-laundering on his part.
The Commissioner took the view that the press statement dealt with a political issue arising from Mizzi’s personal interests and was not related to his official duties.
January 2020
The Commissioner concluded that it would be discrimination and a breach of ethics if a minister invited some media houses but not others to press conferences or other media events organised by him or her.
Hyzler came to this conclusion after considering a complaint by Sylvana Debono, then Editor-in-Chief of newsbook.com.mt, against then Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
The Commissioner concluded that once it was the Prime Minister who sent for the media, he was obliged to issue the invitation to all media houses.
March 2020
The Commissioner said that when ministers support initiatives by private operators, they should be careful to avoid crossing the line between providing appropriate official assistance and giving an improper advantage.
Hyzler was considering a complaint by the NGO Repubblika against Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli for appearing in a promotional video produced by the law firm Chetcuti Cauchi Advocates.
The commissioner said: “there is a fine line between promoting a Government scheme and giving preferential treatment to a particular agent. In my opinion, this line has been crossed in the case under consideration.”
May 2020
The Commissioner found that it is widespread practice for ministers to use public resources in the generation of content for their personal pages in Facebook and other social media. Hyzler concluded that this is an abuse since the ministers in question are using public resources to raise their personal and political profiles.
June 2020
The Commissioner concluded that there was nothing to indicate that Ian Borg, Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects, had ordered Infrastructure Malta to defy a Stop and Compliance Order issued by the Environment and Resources Authority and to proceed with works in Wied Qirda, Ħaż-Żebbuġ, without a permit.
July 2020
The Commissioner found that Joseph Muscat was not in breach of the Code of Ethics for Ministers when he travelled to Dubai on a private visit with his family in December 2019.
Hyzler came to this conclusion after considering complaints from Timothy Alden and Adrian Delia. The complaints concerned the cost of the visit and whether this was met by Muscat himself or by a third party.
The Commissioner established that the costs of the visit were not paid for by Muscat but by a third party. The flights cost approximately €21,000.
Muscat gave the Commissioner a detailed explanation about the purpose of the visit and who paid for the trip. Hyzler found no evidence to contradict the explanation given.
August 2020
Parliament’s Standing Committee for Standards in Public Life met to consider what action to take against former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat over the Pétrus wines case. The Commissioner found that Muscat broke the ethical rules when he accepted the wines, since he thereby placed himself under an obligation to an individual who had various commercial relationships with the state.
This case concerned a gift of three bottles of wine of the Château Pétrus brand, with an estimated value of €5,800, that were given by entrepreneur Yorgen Fenech to Muscat, then Prime Minister, at a reception on the occasion of his birthday in February 2019. The case was raised by independent candidate Arnold Cassola.
The Commissioner stated that it was important for ministers to maintain an appropriate social distance from such persons so as to avoid suspicions that these persons were exercising undue influence over government decisions, and the Prime Minister should have shown better judgement when he personally invited Fenech to a private and restricted party and accepted gifts from him.
Parliament’s Standards Committee considered a letter from Muscat in which he stated among other things that “I reiterate that I have assumed all my responsibilities”. The committee agreed to write to Muscat stating that while he had every right to maintain his position, it understood his letter as amounting to an apology, and the committee declared the case closed.
September 2020
The Commissioner stated that persons of trust should not comment on matters of political controversy and should treat others with respect.
Hyzler came to this conclusion after considering a complaint from Matthew Caruana Galizia, director of the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, against Dr Joseph Borg. The complaint concerned a Facebook post by Borg in which he defended Minister Michael Farrugia.
The Commissioner noted that regular government employees in senior roles were obliged to maintain political neutrality. This obligation also applied to persons of trust at equivalent levels.
October 2020
Parliament’s Standing Committee for Standards in Public Life authorised the publication of a case report on the engagement of Konrad Mizzi as a consultant with the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) on 9 December 2019, a fortnight after he resigned as Minister for Tourism. Mizzi’s consultancy contract provided for him to receive €80,400 per year along with other benefits.
In his investigation of this case, prompted by Carmel Cacopardo, the Standards Commissioner found that the contract had been awarded to Mizzi on the instructions of Muscat, then Prime Minister, who was also acting as minister responsible for tourism. Muscat had given his instructions directly to the chief executive officer of the MTA rather than the chairman of its governing board.
November 2020
The Commissioner found that the rules whereby members of Parliament in public sector employment can be released from work to attend parliamentary activities are being abused.
Hyzler considered a complaint against opposition MPs who work in the public sector and who allegedly were not turning up for work on a regular basis.
The Commissioner found that according to the rules for public employees, members of Parliament who work in the public sector are entitled to attend parliamentary activities that take place during office hours. However, he found that the system is being abused due to MPs absenting themselves from work without proper control, even to attend political and constituency activities. MPs are not entitled to attend such activities during office hours.
January 2021
The Commissioner concluded that there was no breach of ethics by Minister Edward Zammit Lewis in the engagement of Dr Cheryl Azzopardi as a legal advisor in his ministry.
Hyzler found that Dr Cheryl Vassallo (then Azzopardi) had been engaged by the government in 2016 to work in the fields of human rights and equality. Zammit Lewis was not the minister responsible for equality at the time, so the allegation that he gained some form of benefit from the engagement does not stand.
January 2021
The commissioner ruled that official press releases issued through the Department of Information should not include partisan political statements.
Hyzler came to this conclusion after considering a complaint by Prof Kevin Cassar against Silvio Schembri, Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses. The complaint concerned a press statement issued by the Minister through the Department of Information on 8 October 2020.
The Commissioner found that the publication of the press release represented a breach of ethics on the part of Minister Silvio Schembri, given that ministers are obliged to respect the political impartiality of the public service. The Commissioner noted that ministers and members of the Opposition alike are at liberty to make partisan statements through personal or party channels, but doing so through the Department of Information constitutes an abuse.
February 2021
The Commissioner found that the Office of the Prime Minister breached ethics when it locked journalists inside a room after a press conference last year.
Hyzler’s investigation came after a complaint was filed by the Institute of Maltese Journalists. The incident took place on 29 November 2019, when journalists were called in for a 4am press conference at the Auberge de Castille. On the day, the Cabinet had considered, and refused, a request for a presidential pardon by Yorgen Fenech, who stands charged of being a mastermind in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
At the end of the press conference, journalists were blocked from leaving the room for a few minutes, with OPM staff saying that this was done to give then Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and the rest of the Cabinet to leave the room.
April 2021
The Commissioner concluded that Minister Carmelo Abela misused public funds when he commissioned a full-page newspaper advertisement featuring a prominent photo of himself. The advert was published in most Sunday papers on 18 October 2020.
Hyzler conducted his investigation following a complaint about the advert by Robert Aquilina, President of the NGO Repubblika.
The Commissioner noted that the Minister attempted to defend the advert by calling it an “advertorial”. However, the advert did not merit this description given the scant information it contained and the use of a half-page photo that served no purpose other than to boost the Minister’s image.
May 2021
The Commissioner concluded that there was no breach of ethics in connection with the appointment of Malta’s ambassador to Ghana.
July 2021
The Commissioner concluded that the government’s decision to lease the Downtown Hotel in Rabat, Gozo, for use as a home for the elderly did not represent an abuse of power or a breach of ethics. The hotel was leased in 2020 as a precautionary measure against the COVID-19 pandemic.
A complaint by Arnold Cassola alleged that the lease of the hotel was abusive because a property built on government land, the Lourdes Home run by the Dominican Sisters, was available as an alternative.
The Commissioner found that the decision had been taken by the Cabinet, and the Lourdes Home belonged to the Dominican Sisters, not the government. The nuns did not consider the Lourdes Home to be suitable as a home for the elderly, and they were unwilling to make it available for this purpose. Therefore the Commissioner did not uphold the complaint.
October 2021
Following a complaint filed by Arnold Cassola, the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life concluded that Joseph Muscat did not commit a breach of ethics when he travelled to Italy with his family on a holiday funded by a third party in August 2020. At that time Dr Muscat was still a Member of Parliament.
November 2021
Parliament’s Standards Committee unanimously adopted a report by the Commissioner for Standards which concluded that Rosianne Cutajar had failed to declare income from the sale of a property in Mdina.
In his report following a complaint raised by Arnold Cassola, the Commissioner stated that the property in question had been sold for the sum of €3.1 million, and the brokerage fee from the sale amounted to €93,000.
Hyzler concluded on the basis of a balance of probabilities that Cutajar had acted as broker for the sale together with her canvasser Charles Farrugia, and they had shared the brokerage fee between them. In February 2021, following media reports on this case, Cutajar had resigned as Parliamentary Secretary but remained an MP.
December 2021
Commissioner found that the awarding of a €15,000 contract to Daniel Bogdanovic by Education Minister Justyne Caruana amounted to an “abuse of power”.
Caruana had breached ethics by “giving preferential treatment” to Bogdanovic by giving him a direct order contract which he was “neither qualified nor competent enough to carry out.” The complained had been filed by Arnold Cassola.
Caruana resigned after the report was made public.