Labour MPs on the parliamentary Standards Committee abstained in a vote on a report compiled by the Standards Commissioner which found former parliamentary secretary, now MP, Michael Farrugia guilty of ethics breach.

The Standards Committee in August published the report compiled by the Standards Commissioner which found that former parliamentary secretary Michael Farrugia breached ethics by giving the wrong information on how Mriehel was to become a zone where high-rise buildings could be constructed.

When the matter was brought before the committee, the government members “failed to see that the committee serves to upgrade standards as expected from politicians”, a Nationalist Party statement said Wednesday.

Minister Jonathan Attard and parliamentary secretary Andy Ellul, who represented the government, abstained on the vote, which meant that the report was adopted by two votes, those by the PN representatives Mark Anthony Sammut and Ryan Callus.

The PN MPs asked for further investigation on other allegations made against Farrugia, and on which the Standards Commissioner did not find evidence, also because of shortcomings in the commissioner’s own investigation, the PN said.

But this request was turned down as the government representatives voted against, with the Speaker of the House, who chairs the committee, deciding that the Standards Commissioner’s report was enough.

Once again, the Speaker ended up serving the government, the PN said.