Only two of the 23 recommendations by the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) in its most recent evaluation report were satisfactorily implemented, or were dealt with in a satisfactory manner by Malta.
GRECO published on Tuesday a compliance report on Malta, assessing the progress of the country in the implementation of the recommendations issued in the Fifth Round Evaluation Report on prevention of corruption and promotion of integrity in central governments (top executive functions) and law enforcement agencies, which was adopted at GRECO's Plenary Meeting on 22 March, 2019.
The report found that twelve recommendations have been partly implemented and nine have not been implemented.
GRECO is a Council of Europe body that aims to improve the capacity of its members to fight corruption by monitoring their compliance with anti-corruption standards. It helps states to identify deficiencies in national anti-corruption policies, prompting the necessary legislative, institutional and practical reforms.
Persons of trust
A couple of the recommendations that were made in the fifth evaluation report dealt with persons of trust.
GRECO recommended that measures be taken to solve the legal situation of persons of trust and to limit the number of such discretionarily appointed officials to an absolute minimum, and that those who would perform top executive functions be required to comply with the highest standards of integrity, including as regards rules of conduct, conflicts of interest, declaratory obligations, and supervision by the Commissioner for standards in public life.
The compliance report found that this recommendation was only partially implemented. "Several measures have been taken to address the present recommendation." It noted, among other things, that amendments adopted provide a more detailed definition of "persons of trust", which contributes to greater legal clarity regarding this category of employees. However, it also noted that a certain legal article may suggest that "persons of trust" are left outside of the scope of the integrity requirements, other than the Code of Ethics and reporting obligations applicable to public employees in general. It also noted that the amendments do not appear to fully address the recommendation to limit the number of appointments of persons of trust to an absolute minimum, among other things.
One thing that was not implemented was GRECO's recommendation that on the basis of proper risk assessments, "an integrity strategy be developed and implemented in respect of all pertinent categories of persons entrusted with top executive functions."
"It would appear that, even though an inter-ministerial body has been set up to establish an integrity strategy, the actual work on the development of the national anti-corruption integrity strategy, which is to be built on a risk assessment, has not yet been initiated," the compliance report notes.
Rules to govern contacts between people in top functions and lobbyists
Another of the Greco recommendations in the evaluation report was that rules be laid down to govern contacts between persons with top executive functions and lobbyists/third parties that seek to influence the public decision-making process and the disclosure of such contacts and the subject-matters discussed.
In its compliance report, GRECO noted that the Commissioner on Standards in Public Life has proposed that lobbying be regulated through dedicated legislation. "This is to be welcomed. However, at this stage, there are no rules or legislation to regulate contacts between the Persons entrusted with Top Executive Functions (PTEFs) and lobbyists/third parties in place, not even at the drafting level. It follows that GRECO cannot consider this recommendation to be implemented, even partly."
Overall conclusions
In its overall conclusions, GRECO noted that, as regards persons entrusted with top executive functions (PTEFs), substantial reforms have been initiated by the authorities. "New functions have been given to the Commissioner for Standards of Public Life regarding investigation of suspected violations of the integrity rules, reporting on possible corruption cases and seeking judicial review in respect of decisions not to prosecute. Promising legal amendments have been adopted to streamline the criminal justice system to combat corruption, notably, by gradually transferring the prosecuting function from the Police to the Attorney General, disconnecting the prosecuting and advisory functions of the latter, etc. A 'cooling-off' period of up to two years has also been put in place between public-to-private sector employments." However, it said, most of these measures and initiatives are still to be implemented in practice and several significant shortcomings are yet to be addressed.
It noted that the development of an over-arching anti-corruption strategy, built on a risk assessment in respect of the Government and its top executive officials has not yet been initiated. "The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life has not been vested with any power to impose additional sanctions for violations discovered, and the function of confidential advice has still not been dissociated from the Commissioner's competences. Transparency of the legislative process at the government level requires further improvement: some measures to facilitate public consultation through electronic access are underway, but they have not led to tangible progress so far."
The report recommended that safeguards should be put in place to limit the number of appointments of 'persons of trust' in the Government to an absolute minimum, "and these positions should be subject to the same integrity requirements and supervision as other PTEFs. No measures have been taken to introduce ad hoc disclosure when conflicts of interest occur in respect of top executive officials and there are no procedures to manage such situations."
It also said that regulation of lobbying and the disclosure of contacts between top executives and third parties is yet to be accomplished, and plans to establish an Integrity Unit to support public office-holders in solving ethical dilemmas have not materialised.
"Important challenges remain in the investigations of some of the high- profile corruption cases. The lack of special investigation techniques for revealing corruption offences also remains a serious drawback"
As regards law enforcement authorities, several important policy documents have been adopted, it said, such as the Anti-Fraud and Corruption Policy and the Police Code of Ethics, among others. It took note of the new procedure regarding the appointment of police commissioners.
It noted, among other things, that recent legislative amendments also introduced the Police Disciplinary Appeals Board, which took over the task of examining disciplinary appeals from the Independent Police Complaints Board. "Finally, police officers have been enabled to report possible corruption offences anonymously. These are clearly positive steps. Nonetheless, additional measures must be taken to fully meet the demands of all the recommendations. Thus, greater coherence is needed among the rules on police ethics and integrity, which are still contained in several documents. Even though the Horizontal Movement Policy is said to contain provisions regarding filling of vacant posts, their application to transfers of police officers is yet to be asserted through practice, and promotions are not covered by this policy."
"The same holds true for the new rules on restriction of business interests and parallel activities of the police officers. In addition, it remains uncertain whether sufficient resources are provided to the Independent Police Complaints Board to clearly establish it as an efficient and independent complaints mechanism. Finally, police officers reporting possible corruption from within the Police Force are covered by the ad hoc protection mechanism in the Anti-Fraud and Corruption Policy. It is, however, regrettable that they do not benefit from the protection measures as set out in the Protection of Whistle-Blowers Act."
The two that were satisfactorily dealt with
The only two recommendations out of 23 that were satisfactorily dealt with were as follows.
Firstly, was GRECO's recommendation (divided in two parts) i) that the standards of conduct and ethics applicable to law enforcement officers be consolidated and updated in respect of gifts, conflicts of interest, third party relations and other topical subject-matters and (ii) that these be complemented with appropriate guidance and possibilities to seek confidential advice in case of ethical dilemmas.
The second recommendation that was satisfactorily dealt with, was its recommendation for strengthening the training programmes and awareness raising measures on integrity and professional ethics (covering conflicts of interest and other corruption prevention-related matters) for law enforcement bodies, taking into consideration their specificity, the variety of duties and their vulnerabilities.
GRECO noted that further progress is necessary to demonstrate an acceptable level of compliance with the other recommendations within the next 18 months. GRECO invited the Head of delegation of Malta to submit a second Situation Report containing additional information regarding action taken to implement recommendations by 31 March 2023.