Speaker of the House Anglu Farrugia gave a ruling in Parliament on Wednesday, saying that Minister Clayton Bartolo was found in breach of protocols and was ‘incorrect’ to have not followed procedures, and on his own initiative, gave ‘indicative’ questions to a Public Accounts Committee witness ahead of Tuesday’s sitting.
Farrugia said that a request for a ruling was made by PN MP and PAC chairperson Darren Carabott, after it was revealed that Tuesday's PAC witness economist Gordon Cordina had received a text message with an attached document which included indicative questions before the sitting in which they were meant to be asked.
Carabott asked the Speaker to take steps and investigate to see if the messages exchanged between Cordina and Bartolo amount to breach of ethics, guidelines, or any other breach it could find.
Farrugia in his ruling said that the committee itself can give an informal indication of the line of questioning to a witness beforehand, provided this is done by the committee itself, and not on the individual initiative of a member on the committee.
The Speaker said that, “it would have been better if those questions were passed on to the committee secretary, so that the chairperson can share it with committee members and is made aware of the questions prepared beforehand.”
Farrugia said that he had listened to the full PAC sitting where it was noted that Cordina had given his answers in detail, and did not suspect that Cordina seemed in any way threatened, scared, or seemingly withholding or giving false evidence before the PAC.
Moreover, when asked by the chairman, Cordina passed the received text message and attached document on to the committee’s secretary, the Speaker noted, adding also that he noted that Bartolo had also passed on this exchange.
The Speaker gave direction and recommended that is the committee feels it needs to make further questions to that same witness on either Bartolo’s questions, or on what Cordina had already said, then this should be done.
Farrugia also said that government ministers should not be made permanent members of the committee, and only be substituted when an MP on the committee is absent.
Bartolo is a permanent member of the committee despite also being Tourism Minister, being the only minister on the committee.
Farrugia said that while it does not seem that there was a conflict of interest between Cordina and Bartolo, ministers sitting on the committee could pose a conflict-of-interest risk, as the more prominent government members end up scrutinising their own actions.