The Standards Commissioner ruled that replies to parliamentary questions that are considered to be misleading should be investigated by the Speaker, not by him.

Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi was ruling on a complaint by independent candidate Arnold Cassola who felt that Education Minister Clifton Grima had misled the House.

Cassola complained that Grima allegedly misled Parliament when he was asked to publish an audit that gave the green light for the American University of Malta to have its licence extended by five more years.

The minister, instead of publishing the audit, referred to a website where the audit was available. Cassola said that this was not true, arguing that the minister had misled Parliament.

The commissioner said that matters pertaining to the running of the House fall under the responsibility of the Speaker.

The commissioner’s function is to investigate complaints regarding the code of ethics.

In his conclusion, the standards commissioner said that his office has no basis to investigate the claim.   

In a comment to the media, Cassola said that the commissioner was "washing his hands" of investigating misleading answers to ministerial parliamentary questions.