Opposition Leader Bernard Grech has written to the Prime Minister requesting an urgent Parliamentary debate on a letter sent by the Ombudsman to the Speaker. 

In the letter, Ombudsman Anthony Mifsud accused the head of the civil service, Mario Cutajar, of launching a “direct and frontal attack” on his office, in a report the latter had published last month. 

The Ombudsman said the Principal Permanent Secretary had tried to undermine his office with “allegations, half-truths and insinuations.” 

In a Right of Reply, Cutjar said that the Ombudsman had skirted around proposals for good governance and procedures for constitutional offices such as the Ombudsman’s office. 

“For clarification’s sake, the Public Administration has put forward proposals so that all constitutional overseeing institutions (and not only the Ombudsman) should have clear, transparent, well-defined, and publicly known procedures about their own standard operating policies along with the recruitment of staff (which includes consultants/persons of trust) into their fold,” the right of reply read. 

The Opposition Leader said this was an attack on a parliamentary institution that should be afforded protection by both sides of the House. The Office of the Ombudsman is an important institution that carries out an important democratic function, Grech told Prime Minister Robert Abela.

He also noted that he had put forward several names to take over from Mifsud after his term expired in March of last year. To date, there has been no agreement. 

He urged the PM to agree to hold an urgent Parliamentary debate on the issue.