The Nationalist Party has accused the government of trying to hinder the work of Parliament’s Standards for Public Life Committee by continually delaying meetings from taking place.

The committee has not been convened since November of last year despite repeated requests from members of the Nationalist Party and attempts by the Speaker of the House – who chairs the committee.

The PN said that its representatives on the committee had made no less than five requests for the committee to meet, while Speaker Anglu Farrugia himself had made another two attempts for a date to be found.

“However, the government members of the committee always said that they were unavailable, or simply never answered,” the party said.

The committee's purpose is to investigate any violations of the Code of Ethics in the public sector, including the actions of government officials.

However, the government's two representatives on the committee, who are also members of the Cabinet, have consistently been unavailable or failed to respond to requests to attend the meetings, the PN said.

The Nationalist Party accused the government, and in particular Prime Minister Robert Abela, of obstructing the committee's work.

The party said in its statement that this is another attempt by the government to avoid the contents of the Standards in Public Life Act, saying that they had already taken control over the process of appointing the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life.

The PN is referring to the government’s enactment of an anti-deadlock mechanism for the appointment of the Commissioner – a mechanism which was used to push through the appointment of former Chief Justice Joseph Azzopardi to succeed George Hyzler.

The previous Commissioner had found a violation of the Code of Ethics in a supplement published in the Labour newspaper "Kullhadd" to commemorate Robert Abela's two-year anniversary as Prime Minister. The supplement was funded with public money, prompting further criticism from the opposition.

The delay in convening the committee has prevented it from taking further action on the Commissioner's report, leading to the PN having concerns that the government is trying to avoid any repercussions for ethical violations in the public sector.

The statement was signed by Nationalist Party MPs Mark Anthony Sammut and Ryan Callus, who are both members of the Committee for Standards in Public Life.