The Standards Commissioner has written to the Speaker of the House of Representatives saying that his proposals for more transparency have been ignored for six months by Parliament’s Standards Committee.

In the letter, the commissioner, Judge Emeritus Joseph Azzopardi said that the proposals should be given the attention they merit with expediency, as the matter has now become “urgent”.

The Speaker is also the chairman of the Standards Committee.

The letter states that on 15 June, the commissioner had written to the committee to propose that, in cases when he decides not to investigate complaints received, he should have the power to publish his decision where it is felt that the circumstances warrant such publication and are not damaging to the person on which the complaint was filed.

The commissioner said that a report about an investigation is made public, but a report on a decision not to investigate is not made public by his office. This has been the practice according to an agreement reached by the previous commissioner and the committee, as it was felt that the commissioner should not make public allegations which he does not intend to investigate. This agreement had been reached so as not to cause harm to persons about whom allegations were made. According to the practice, a report about a decision not to investigate is sent solely to the person filing the complaint and normally also to the person about whom a complaint was filed.

However, it often happens that allegations are already in the public domain when a complaint is filed. It also often happens that the complainant or the person about whom a complaint is filed publish the decision taken by the commissioner’s office not to investigate. Situations such as these should be avoided as the person publishing the report is often selective, incorrect or misleading, as happened in a recent case.

The commissioner did not mention which case it was, but his most recent decision was not to investigate MP Rosianne Cutajar on a complaint that she had not declared income from a consultancy job with the Institute of Tourism Studies. Cutajar had been the first to announce the decision, saying that she had been exonerated, but NGO Repubblika, who had filed the complaint, had later said that her case was closed only because it had been time-barred.

In his letter to the Speaker, the commissioner said that to move towards more transparency, his office should have the power to publish reports even when a decision is taken not to investigate a complaint.

The commissioner said that normally cases are published on the commissioner’s website. The commissioner is now requesting to have the power to send decisions also to the media in exceptional cases so as to avoid wrong interpretations of the decision.

The commissioner is also requesting that it should be at his discretion whether to publish a decision indicating that he will not be investigating a complaint.

These requests have been pending since June and a decision needs to be taken, the commissioner said.