Standards Commissioner George Hyzler has ruled that the judicial letter sent by a lawyer on behalf of Speaker Anglu Farrugia to Matthew Caruana Galizia might be antagonistic in tone, but does not include any threats or undue pressure.

When Matthew Caruana Galizia had written to Farrugia calling for his resignation for failing to reprimand Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar. He had taken the Speaker to task that he had simply asked the Clerk to send a letter to Cutajar to inform her that the standards committee had decided to reprimand her, meaning that the former Parliamentary Secretary was not actually reprimanded, let alone sanctioned. The issue revolves around a decision by the Standards Committee to adopt a report which had found Cutajar in breach of ethics over her role in a failed property deal involving Yorgen Fenech.

The Speaker then sent Caruana Galizia a legal letter penned by Professor Ian Refalo. The lawyer said the Speaker was rebutting the "unfounded" allegations, and invited Caruana Galizia to brush up on the law, saying that he should not have written directly to the Speaker.

Independent candidate Arnold Cassola had filed a request with the Standards Commissioner to investigate this, and also to look into a Facebook comment made by one of the Speaker's members of staff on Facebook.

The Commissioner, in his report, noted that the staff member does not fall under the Standards in Public Life Act and thus cannot be investigated by him.

The Commissioner also noted that the Speaker, in principle, is subject to investigation under the Standards in Public Life Act. But, he said that this must be applied with important limitations that emerge from the Speaker's role. He said that the Speaker has discretion in his leadership and work in Parliament, as well as in the interpretation of the Parliamentary Permanent Orders. "As a general rule I should not examine his discretion in carrying out these duties. In the same way I should not examine the Speaker's exercise of his function as President of the Standards Committee, as this creates a conflict, since the committee evaluates the reports that I submit for its consideration."

However, the Commissioner considered the admissibility of the complaint. He said that the simple fact that the Speaker got a lawyer to write to Caruana Galizia cannot be seen as conduct that undermines the dignity or the status of the House of Representatives.

He also found that the content of the letter sent by the lawyer, "while it could be seen as having an antagonistic tone, to my understanding does not include any threats or undue pressure, and as such the employ of a lawyer to write the letter cannot be seen as a breach of Article 4 of the Code of Ethics." the Commissioner ruled there is no basis for an investigation under the Standards in Public Life Act.